Harry Potter and the Rebirth of Hope
by JPx
Summary: Harry is in his sixth year at Hogwarts. What will happen now that he has lost one of the things most precious to him? and I'm not talking about something in the past New students, a familiar DADA professor, new classes, and more! HPLL
1. Just Another Summer

This story is fictional, any likeness blah blah blah, you should know this by now. Original characters and story elements are mine, the credit for the rest go to their respective owners.

Harry Potter and the Rebirth of Hope

JPx

Chapter One: Just Another Summer

It was just another ordinary summer day at Number 4 Privet Drive. Rain pelted down onto the window of the smallest bedroom of the too normal house in the suburb. The boy entering manhood just stared blankly out of his window as the sky continued its lament. The not so normal fifteen year old with a peculiar scar on his forehead liked to think the Gods were weeping for his lost godfather. He knew only too well that he had been crying nightly for Sirius, the only father figure he ever knew, and the dreams that taunted him nightly were enough to torment anyone. Every night Sirius gracefully arched through the veil to never return. All summer young Harry Potter had blamed himself for that useless death.

Some days his bulbous cousin Dudley would ask, "What was wrong with you last night? Crying over another lost boyfriend?" then he would chuckle causing his four chins to start jiggling. Harry thought maliciously that it was an improvement from his cousin's previous five chins.

Harry didn't even rise to his bait anymore. Most days he tried to spend the ticking seconds of each day as far away as he could from these people.

His thoughts were busy with assigning blame for the death of his godfather. It was his fault he went to the department of mysteries, it was his fault for not looking at the mirrors sooner, it was his fault, and no one could tell him different. Though he didn't entirely blame himself…

It was also Snape's fault for not teaching him Occlumency properly, it was also Snape's fault for not breaking character to the most evil Defense teacher to ever curse Hogwarts, Delores Umbridge, to let Harry know that his message at the end of the year was received.

It was also Dumbledore's fault. He could have taught Harry Occlumency. He could have told Harry the prophecy when he asked for it all those years ago. He could have done something, anything to let Harry know to not go to the department of mysteries that fateful night.

It was Bellatrix's fault. She cast the spell that caused Sirius to fall through that damn veil. She's the one who laughed and didn't care for her family. She was the one that would have to pay.

But Harry knew in honesty whose fault it was, the wizard whose name still struck fear in the average wizarding community, Voldemort. He was to blame for everything, his parents, his godfather, having to live at this God forsaken house. Voldemort caused all this badness, Neville's parents, the constant fear, Cederic, it all led back to this one source. All because this stupid kid was mistreated, he decided to take it out on the world, Harry had been mistreated too, but he would take it out on Tom.

This summer really hadn't been different from all of Harry's other summers at this house. He had been put to work as the unofficial maid, cleaning after what was left of his family. They had him in the garden pulling weeds, and the wretches barely fed him. What he got to eat was mainly vegetables and meat, this was Dudley's new diet to help with his boxing training, and of coarse Dudley had double to eat over Harry. The combination of work and diet had him toned and rather skinnier than usual. Mrs. Weasley (the closest thing Harry knew to a mother) would not approve.

Between chores Harry would sit in his room desperately trying to get some schoolwork done, but whenever he was alone his thoughts drifted to Sirius. He did get a few letters this year though, though they hardly lifted his spirits as he was hoping. His best friends from his school to learn magic, Hogwarts, didn't really have much to say.

_Harry,_

_Mum, Dad, and I have gone to __Ireland__ for the summer. You wouldn't believe it here, everything's so green! Really, it's peaceful here, you would love it. Maybe once everything at home is calmed a bit we can get you out of __England__ for a while. I want to see __America__, I've read a lot about their wizarding communities and it's so different there._

_Have you heard from Ron? I haven't and I'm really concerned about those thought scars. I know he didn't really complain that much, but he seemed a little different. I'm still feeling better, I have to have a potion a day and walking a lot flares up some pain, remind me that I have to find out what I was hit with. I can't find it in any of my books._

_I know you've probably spent the summer blaming yourself about what happened to Sirius. You also probably don't want to hear this but don't blame yourself. If anything, blame Voldemort, I do, and I'm sure everyone else does, including Sirius._

_Well, I better get going. I'll be home next week; hopefully you can get away from those people that are somehow related to you. If you can, let me know and I'll try to be wherever you are._

_Love,_

_Hermione_

Harry did get a little uplifted by her letter. Over the years she had become like a sister to him. His reply held hardly information though.

_Hermione,_

_Thank you for the letter. A peaceful place, I'll have to go there to see what it's like for once, then again trouble would probably track me down wherever I go._

_Ron did write, mostly about Quidditch though. I can't believe you don't know what you were hit with; you must be dying to get to a library._

_I know I shouldn't blame myself for Sirius, but it is partially my fault. I won't say it was all me, but I could have listened to you and not went. There were so many things I could have done differently, but I didn't. I'll live with it though._

_I hope I can get away from here too. I'll let you know as soon as I know. Hope you have a great week, you've earned it._

_Harry_

Harry did also receive a short note from a tiny owl too. This was from Ron, who over the years had basically become the brother he never had, though Ron had many.

_Harry,_

_Just cillin' at the Burrow here, how are you there? Hope those gits aren't giving you too much hell. Just tell us if they are, we'll get you out, even without Dumbledore's say so._

_Did you hear? Of coarse you didn't, two new brooms are coming out this summer! The Nimbus FX and the Firebolt SE. Both are gonna be awesome._

_The Cannons have a reformed team this year. Maybe they'll have a chance at the cup. Here's hoping!_

_Hope you're doing well after…that night. I still have scars. I can't believe Madam Pomfry came across something she couldn't immediately heal. And I can't get rid of the nightmares…_

_Everyone sends their best, I could list them but I don't want to sit here another hour. Got to go, I'll bug mum to get Dumbledore to get you out of there._

_Ron_

Harry was a little shocked at Ron's letter. Nightmares, scars, Harry could feel the guilt building back in him. He grudgingly wrote back though.

_Ron,_

_I hope this finds you well. New brooms, nice, we'll have to check them out at Quality. I wonder what happened to my broom, and if I'll get to play next year, I hope so._

_These people are ignoring me most of the time, so overall it's an improvement._

_I'm sorry about those scars and nightmares; we never should have been in that mess. Anyway I'm gonna go._

_Hope to hear from you soon._

_Harry_

The letters this morning had helped Harry face the day, but he stayed in his room for the morning. Midmorning broke Harry's train of thought with his Aunt's shrill voice.

"Get down here boy!"

Harry trudged down the stairs not wanting to deal with his family today. Last night hadn't gone to well, in between nightmares he cried. It was taxing going between his nightmares during his sleep and the nightmare that was his life.

"What?" he asked his horse faced aunt without caring what she wanted.

"Think you're doing nothing today? The house has to be cleaned for Dudley's birthday. Get to it."

Harry cleaned until lunch when he had a break and two slices of bread with bologna. That afternoon he thought he would go to the park to get away from what was to come. Before he could reach the door his Aunt stopped him again.

"I don't think so," she said. "The decorations have to go up too."

At five o'clock Harry had finished and he heard his uncle drive up. He knew Dudley and his gang of friends would be with him, so he ran upstairs to avoid any confrontation.

After a shower he headed back to the solace of his room, the rain still pounding itself out on the window.

Harry was again tormenting himself over the death of his godfather, when the only thing he didn't want to break his concentration happened, he could hear the Dursleys from downstairs.

"Really dad?!" came the voice of his oversized cousin Dudley. The voice grated against the inside of Harry's skull.

"Yup, all yours son," came the even worse voice of his Uncle Vernon.

"Happy Birthday!" the worst of them all screamed. His Aunt Petunia earned his loathing by being his mother's sister and letting his childhood happen the way it did.

"When can I take it out?" asked Dudley.

"Whenever this rain clears," replied Vernon.

"And we'll have to get Harry to wash it for you too," chimed in Petunia.

Harry muttered to himself "oh hell no," before going downstairs to see what the fuss was about. For fourteen years Harry had to tolerate his so called family, it truly ended now. He came off the stairs to a disgusting sight. Vernon and Petunia were on either side of Dudley in a very large group hug. Harry gagged at the scene in front of him. At least the party was over and Dudley's friends were gone.

Dudley saw Harry first; he smirked and mouthed "You wish you had a family."

Harry lost it, he didn't care about wands, he didn't care about laws, decrees, and he didn't care about this family for sure. He slowly walked up to Dudley like he was going to join in on the hug.

"I don't want anything you treasure double d's" and with that Harry punched Dudley as hard as he could in the nose, effectively breaking his nose. Dudley was knocked back but the group hug had saved him from falling. His nose started bleeding profusely, turning half of the giant ball of a head slick and crimson.

"What in the ruddy hell is wrong with you boy?" Vernon yelled while raising a fist to retaliate on Harry. But Harry expected this.

In a flash Harry had his wand out, pointed directly at Vernon's oversized head. His uncle froze but Dudley was ready to retaliate, whether Harry had that freaky wand or not. His fat cousin charged, but Harry spun out of the way. His cousin lost balance and tripped. Once Harry turned to avoid Dudley he was back facing Vernon. Harry went to get his wand back up but his uncle was already in swing. The oversized fist hit him squarely under his eye.

The pain reached Harry's brain as he reeled backwards. He stumbled backwards and landed into something mushy, before he knew what was happening Dudley had Harry's arms trapped behind him, his wand fell in the confusion.

"I've had enough!" bellowed Vernon Dursley like a wounded cow.

"Yeah, me too," muttered Harry.

But Vernon was on him, an overlarge fist landed in Harry's stomach.

"This has long been coming boy," Vernon said with certain madness in his eyes.

Before Harry could recover Vernon had picked up Harry's wand, he twirled it in his fingers smiling down at Harry. Harry was ready to murder the family when Petunia rejoined her husband and took the wand from him. When she grasped it Harry could hear a certain note of phoenix song filling his ears.

Harry's mind raced. Was she going to help him? Had the previous signs of actually being his mother's sister led to her regaining his wand for him? These absurd thoughts were quickly driven out of his mind when he heard an echoing _CRACK_.

The phoenix song died away as he saw two pieces of holly falling to the floor.

Harry felt injured, not from the hits of his uncle, not for the woman who was called his aunt breaking his wand, but from the actual wand. He felt like a piece of him died, on his road to despair, he felt his emotions veer off to pure rage.

Harry's eyes seemed to glow and radiate emerald green; suddenly his cousin released him yelping in pain. Vernon and petunia backed away in fear. They could feel a charge in the air when they heard their nephew muttering something incomprehensible. It sounded like low hisses and some other mangled language. Suddenly all three Dursleys were forced together back into a tightly squeezed family hug. Harry still muttering launched all three through the air where they crashed through the door of the cupboard under the stairs. He left them there, very, very cramped.

Harry went back to his room. He let Hedwig out of the window to fly in the rain and quickly lifted his trunk, before heading back downstairs. He could hear the three still moaning in the cupboard as he picked up the pieces of his broken wand pocketing them, then he slung open the front door to leave them forever. After leaving the house he saw what they were all squawking about earlier concerning Dudley's birthday on the side of the road like it was someone else's. It was his brand-new sports car; he guessed they left it indiscreet to surprise his cousin. He glared at the car with loathing for the family inside. His eyes glinted again and the car effectively started melting down to the wet pavement.

His emotions had been bubbling too close to the surface to spend the summer with the Dursleys.

"And Dumbledore knew it," muttered Harry.

He just started walking in the rain, his trunk drug behind him, with silent tears running down his cheeks mixing with the rain. He didn't know where he was going, and he didn't care as long as it was far away from where he was.

He knew the Order would know any minute now. Mrs. Figg (a squib, or a person born to wizards that had no magical abilities themselves) who lived down the road would report the car smoldering in the driveway. Who ever was watching him would know he was walking unprotected. The Ministry of Magic was surly sending an owl telling him he had been effectively expelled from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Most importantly to Harry right now was the comfort in knowing that he did not care.

Before he knew it he was in the park, the park where Dudley beat up children, where he smoked with his pathetic little friends, and where he broke swings for some unknown reason. But one swing still remained intact, so Harry sat in it. His head hanging freely down from his body, and he began to weep.

He didn't know how long he was there, but night had crept up on him and the rain had stopped. When he looked up someone had repaired the swing beside him and was sitting with him.

"Hello Tonks," was all Harry could come up with.

"Hey," was all she could come up with for a reply.

"So you're my guard duty tonight?"

"Nope."

"Oh, is someone else here?"

"Probably."

"So why are you here?"

"Harry, we need to talk."

He was a little perplexed by this, she wasn't being her bubbly self, and he was seriously wondering if it was her or not, even if her pink spiky hair was a giveaway.

He decided to test her, "what's really not your color?"

She grinned at his question coming from when they first met, "purple."

"So what's up?" he asked happy with her answer.

"Harry, I know you miss Sirius, but getting rid of your other family ties and most of all their blood protection isn't a really healthy way to grieve."

"They broke my wand!" Harry shouted losing his head completely.

"They…WHAT?" replied Tonks looking a bit stricken.

Harry pulled out the two halves of what was his wand. Tonks looked grim but mentioned something about telling Dumbledore as soon as possible.

After a few moments of silence Harry regained their conversation.

"Tonks, you don't know them, and you wouldn't live there, Sirius surely wouldn't"

"Following your godfathers footsteps?" she asked him concernedly.

"Is that a bad thing?" he asked back with a hint of a threat in his voice.

"He was my family too Harry, I too loved him, but his footsteps led to a lot of places I wouldn't want to go, really think about it, do you?

Her words stung with truth, and with a few new tears welling in his eyes he answered her with a whisper, "no."

She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and said, "Look Harry, he's not really gone, he just moved on. But anytime you want to remember him just look to the brightest star in the sky. The dog star, he once told me."

Tonks had a faraway sad look to her face as she stared at a star, but Harry took her words to heart, and his spirits were lifted a bit. He decided to lighten her mood as Sirius would have.

"Thanks Nymphadora." He smiled at her.

"Enjoy that," she replied, "you only get one." She obviously was pleased with what could become her new "favorite cousin".

"So, what now? I'm not going back to the Dursleys, I don't care if they are memory charmed and that car is replaced."

"Oh we're not doing that," she replied, "we do know, you know, that they got what they deserved."

"So what?" inquired Harry.

"Let's see, HEY, ORDER MEMBER, CAN WE GET OUT OF HERE NOW?" she screamed into the night that still dripped from earlier rain.

Kingsly showed up, "So do you plan on making us charm this whole street Tonks?" he asked teasingly in his deep voice giving a wink to Harry.

"Young master Harry here and I would like to take our leave of this place as soon as possible to never return." Tonks came back with only a slight bit of sarcasm.

"As you wish milady," replied Kingsly, holding up a branch from the ground loosed by the storm, "_Portus_," he charmed the wood.

"Whenever you wish Har." She said with a smile playing on her lips as she arched her elbow to allow his arm to slip through.

Harry shook his head and looped his arm through hers and they each grabbed hold of the branch turned portkey. A familiar jerk behind the navel, and they were off.

* * *

This is my first fanfic, I hope to update it weekly if at all possible. 

I gotta give mad thanks to Sirya Black for helping this chapter off the ground!

Hope you enjoyed.


	2. Back to Grimmauld Place

Well, Harry Potter doesn't get me any royalties, but those original characters you haven't met yet might.

Chapter Two: Back to Grimmauld Place

The two Aurors managed to stay on their feet as Harry landed on the floor with a thud.

"_FILTH, MUDBLOODS, DEFILING THE HOUSE OF MY FATHER!"_

"Shut up you stupid wench!" bellowed Harry. He could feel the power radiate through his body as he felt his power reaching out to the wall at Sirius's mother's portrait. He felt it take hold of the portrait and heard the wood creaking then snap, effectively removing the cursed picture. He picked up the portrait by the frame with the wall still clinging to it and headed to the back yard. After fifteen minutes he returned inside the house's hallway. Kingsley and Tonks were joined by Lupin.

"Well, she's buried," said Harry meekly.

Lupin gave a sad smile and said, "Wish we had thought of that a year ago."

"I have to go," said Tonks, she headed out the door, Harry could hear a faint _pop_, as she disapperated.

Number 12 Grimmauld Place hadn't changed very much since Harry had last seen it. It was as black as ever, though signs of Lupin trying to win the battle through cleanliness were present. The house was technically clean, but grim. The serpent doorknobs had been replaced with normal handles. Most memorabilia of the Black legacy had been done away with by Sirius, and Lupin had continued the cleansing. Harry peered around the house, a frown forming on his lips. He sighed very heavily.

"Everything…just reminds me…" he said in a strained voice.

"I know," replied Lupin in another strained voice.

Harry looked to the last true Marauder. His gray hair was coming in even more. His face had developed a few more wrinkles, and his eyes looked like they hadn't seen sleep in a few months.

Kingsley headed to the kitchen to let his friends have a moment.

"Professor…" Harry said with a forced smile.

"Please Harry, Remus," said Lupin.

"Ok, sorry Pro, um, Remus."

The two embraced each other for a proper greeting.

"So how have you been?" asked Harry.

"Better," came Lupin's honest reply. "I've kept busy trying to finish the house, kind of my way of honoring Sirius."

"It looks better."

"Thank you." Lupin continued, "Shall I show you your room?"

Harry nodded and Lupin headed towards the stairs taking Harry's trunk for him. It was definitely different being back in this house; he guessed it would just take time to get used to it. The stairs led Lupin and Harry to the third floor which ended the stairs. A short hallway led to the end of the house, a dirty window that glowed yellow was at the end. There was a door on the left hand side; the right hand side was oddly blank. Lupin opened the door to the left, letting it swing open he stepped back to allow Harry in.

Harry walked in and the room illuminated itself. His jaw dropped. The room was the opposite of the rest of the house. The floors were a rich hardwood that shined in the light of the room. The walls were a brilliant white, but you could hardly see them from the shelves lined with pictures. To his immediate left was a huge wooden armoire. A gigantic king size bed was to the right of the room, the end pointing towards the middle of the room. It had a rich red bedspread on it with a crest embroidered to its middle. The crest was the shape of a shield divided into four parts. The upper left section was black with a gold lightning bolt imposed onto it. To the right of it was the familiar red and gold Gryffindor house symbol. The bottom left section held the shapes of a stag, a great black dog, and a wolf in a field of lily. The bottom right contained a red and gold phoenix feather on top of a black background. Harry was awe struck at this crest alone, and a little saddened at the phoenix feather reminding him of his fallen wand.

"Sirius told me that he wanted this to be your crest Harry."

Not knowing what to say Harry nodded and tried to take in the rest of the room. On the other side of the bed was a quite big wooden desk and chair. On the sides of the desk were bookshelves filled. On the wall to the left was a fireplace with a mantle above it, Harry noticed a jar of Floo powder. To the right of the fireplace in the corner of the room was a sitting area with two recliners facing each other with a chessboard separating them. A loveseat joined the area together. Each was of the same red patterned material with gold thread weaving them together. To the left of the fireplace Harry noticed an open door that went to his own private bathroom.

"This…this…it's too much." Harry managed to say.

"It's your room, the way Sirius wanted it."

A tear formed in Harry's eye. He embraced Lupin again.

"Thanks Remus."

"You're welcome Harry. Well, I'd better get back downstairs. Besides, I'd think you'd want to settle in? Goodnight Harry."

"Night," replied Harry, and Lupin left the room shutting the door.

Harry had wanted to check out the room more in-depth but sleep had taken over him. He awoke in the morning with a start. Harry quickly scanned the room to be sure that he was not dreaming a wonderful dream. He was not disappointed. The room surrounding him was indeed the beautiful room showed to him by Remus the previous night. Harry sat in bed, still in a bit of shock.

He glanced at the stocked bookshelves and noticed many defense books of interest. He also noticed some dark art books littered in with the defense books; he assumed some of the Black library had leaked its way to these shelves. But there was a library already, Sirius and Remus must have thought these books would be a help to Harry, he decided to look into them later.

Harry slid out of bed and made his way to _his_ bathroom. After finishing his business and showering, he wiped the fog from the enormous mirror. During his shower something didn't feel right, now looking at his face he knew what was off. A lump was forming under his left eye where his uncle hit him. He prodded it curiously and regretted the action immediately. Pain shot from his cheek, landed in his scar, and continued to the back of his head. He cursed loudly and left his bathroom.

Back in his bedroom he prepared to transfer his clothes from trunk to armoire. He opened the trunk, and then opened the armoire only to find unexpected clothes waiting for him. He decided on a green t-shirt with a white tribal design over the chest. To go with it he picked out a pair of shorts with cargo pockets sewn into the denim. At the bottom he saw shoes of various design, he picked a pair that were called 'DC'. Afterwards he looked the perfect muggle (non-magical person).

Harry happily made his way down the stairs, his stomach grumbling at the lack of food for the beginning of the summer. Through the living room and down another hallway he took a right that led to more stairs, this time down towards the kitchen. He stopped abruptly at the door; he could hear voices echoing in the room. Suddenly he felt very exposed and foolish not having his wand.

"Has Albus approved this?" a crisp voice asked.

"Of course," came a tired reply. "Molly, we all know the dangers, the risk, but it must be done."

Harry assumed it was Mrs. Weasley and Remus, he was quit shocked that the woman he regarded as his closest thing to a mum was here. "They must me talking about me being here." He thought. He entered the kitchen, pretending to have never stopped to listen.

Molly sprang from the chair she was sitting in. She reached Harry and gave him an almost painful hug, but he'd never complain at the overly affectionate gesture.

"Good morning Harry dear, what would you like for breakfast?"

"Anything really, I'm starved."

She eyed him up and down and with a look that she quit agreed she began to cook. Harry sat down and Remus looked at his face a little shocked.

"Goodbye present from Dudley?" he asked with a grin noticing the lump under Harry's eye.

"More like from Vernon," Harry replied. Lupin's grin vanished and was replaced with a look that told Harry he wanted to go there next full moon.

"At least I don't have to deal with them anymore." Harry continued.

"Well, at least let me help you a bit," Remus's look of hate died too, he then pulled out his wand pointing it at the lump, and with an "_Intumes Tepes_" the swollen area went down.

Harry rubbed his cheek without the pain shooting from it and said, "Thanks."

Lupin replied in a whisper, "Not a problem, besides, if Molly had seen that she would have rushed to Privet Drive and caused quit an uproar."

They both grinned at this and Mrs. Weasley came with plates to sit before the two. She then summoned the food from the stove to settle on heating pads on the table. Harry dug into the scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and some toast as Molly poured some milk into their glasses.

"Thank you Mrs. Weasley," said Harry.

"Won't you join us?" asked Lupin.

"No, no, I've already ate," answered Molly.

Harry was half way through his breakfast when an owl fluttered through an open window and settled on the table in front of Harry. He relieved the owl of its delivery and opened a note, he also noticed a Daily Prophet newspaper, but over the years he had come to resent the whole company who published it.

_Harry,_

_Look at this! Elections! And we can't vote, though I do hope some people will run that will replace the incompetence of Fudge. Anyway, hope this reaches you well. I'll be back to England in a few days; will you get to leave your relatives? Maybe to the Burrow until school, that would be great don't you think? Maybe we can meet up before school, just let me know when and where._

_Love,_

_Hermione_

It was a hurried note, he could tell. She must have been excited about something, probably the elections she mentioned. So Fudge might be out, Harry thought about the idea happily. She mentioned him going to the Burrow and not to Grimmauld. Maybe she thought he couldn't handle it. He felt a twinge of anger along with a pang of guilt for it. He could perfectly well manage to come back here. He wasn't so fragile that he could take nothing. In all honesty, he knew she was only thinking about his best interests though. Sighing at his inner emotions he took the Prophet and unrolled it. A picture of Minister Fudge fidgeted about the frame looking very worried about something. He decided to read the article, making sure to keep an open mind about whatever was said incase it was dead wrong.

_The Coming Wizard Elections to Determine the Correct Minister for the Job_

_By Molestia Baiulus_

__

_In the coming months current Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge (Pictured Center) may find himself without a job. Over the term of his current reign as the leader of the magical world we all watched as Minister Fudge made countless tragic decisions at every opportunity. From Dementors guarding our most feared enemies, to refusing to believe that You-Know-Who is back, to calling The Boy Who Lived Harry Potter along with the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Albus Dumbledore out right liars, Fudge has never truly redeemed himself. Now with his incompetence in full light the English community is clambering to see exactly who will oppose him in the elections this November._

__

_"I fer one will vote fer anyone but that dunderhead!" exclaims thirty year old Mark Cowan of Hogsmeade._

__

_Indeed a lot of witches and wizards share the view of Mr. Cowan in anyone is better than Fudge. His total lack of preparation of the New Dark Rising has most of the land in a rage to get him out of office as soon as possible._

__

_Though like most politics, everything has more than one side. Mr. Rich, next door neighbor of Mr. Cowan, had this to say, "He did all that could be expected of him at the time. No one really knew You-Know-Who would be coming back now did they?"_

__

_But maybe someone, or two, did know The Dark Lord would be back sooner than we had all expected or would have ever wanted. Both Dumbledore and Potter have been trying to alert us all to He Who Must Not Be Named second rising last year. We are all guilty as Fudge to not have listened._

__

_Next month we expect to update you with a list of candidates who will run for the office. Many still want Headmaster Dumbledore to run, and it is sure he could most certainly win. If he doesn't choose to go for office, perhaps his endorsement could help some unknown candidate get his or her name out. Some people want Potter himself to run, though they should know that he can not seeing as he is not of proper age. Perhaps he too will pick someone to endorse over Fudge. But Minister Fudge still has a few months to try and gain some favoritism to be reelected this year. Maybe he can clear his name of the unwanted attention of having a business relationship with Lucius Malfoy, a recently apprehended Death Eater suspected of being in the Dark Lord's inner circle. Maybe he can get the Aurors out on task before any unnecessary deaths occur. Maybe he can clean his mess, but the question everyone has for Fudge is it too little, too late?_

Harry gaped at the article, his food going unnoticed. Questions and comments began to quickly fill Harry's mind.

"Fudge might be out, someone better might get in, will someone I know run? Will Dumbledore endorse someone, will I be expected to? We're finally believed, but can Fudge get everyone prepared in time? Will a change of office only delay people from being able to defend themselves? How can we prepare to defend ourselves? Before any unnecessary deaths, I guess Cedric and Sirius were necessary were they? Who the bloody hell would want me to run? Where will this all lead?"

His thoughts were broken by Mrs. Weasley loudly clearing her throat. He startled a little, she gave a small frown, waved her wand with a small reheating charm and his food was ready for consumption again. He didn't realize he had sat in his thoughts for a good ten minutes. Quickly he finished his food, thanked Mrs. Weasley again for breakfast, and rushed out to his room to reply to Hermione.

_Hermione,_

_I'm at Number 12 right now, I'll ask when some of you might be able to visit, and I had a thought earlier about how to continue the DA. Elections, I actually can't wait to hear who will run, I'm hoping someone we know, but I don't want to get my hopes up. Let me know when you can come, and I'll let you know something about being able to come. Sometimes this security is nerve racking, but worth it._

_Hope to hear from you soon,_

_Harry_

Harry rolled the parchment and went to seal it magically before realizing his wand was gone. Feeling some bitterness he rushed back downstairs to get Lupin or Mrs. Weasley to do it. Hedwig, noticing the dilemma followed Harry out of the room.

"Remus?" Harry asked the open kitchen.

"Hmm?" Lupin answered looking up from the abandoned Prophet.

"Can you seal this letter for me?" Remus could hear the bitterness on his voice, but he pulled out his wand and with a wave sealed it.

"We'll have to get you to Ollivander's soon."

"Hmm," was all Harry could manage. He turned and tied the letter to Hedwig's extended leg, and with that his owl flew out of the open window.

Over the next week Lupin and Harry had many conversations. About Harry's parents, and Sirius were discussed a lot. They were quickly becoming the only family links each other had. Mrs. Weasley was over almost everyday, cooking and tending for Harry. She let him know Ron and Ginny would be coming sooner than he thought. She also informed him Arthur was really busy, but would be by as soon as he could. Harry only had a hope with what he was busy with. Other order members stopped by too, most with encouraging words for him, Snape stopped once only to sneer at him, but there was no sign of Dumbledore. Thursday of the week, Harry received another owl. This one with official Hogwarts letterhead, it was his O.W.L.s.

_Dear Mr. Harry James Potter,_

_Enclosed are your Ordinary Wizarding Level results. Also enclosed is a class list you need to choose for the year, as well as the required school supply list for each class. Term will begin on September first, and the train from platform nine and three quarters will leave at eleven a.m. sharp on August thirty first. We will need your class list by August thirtieth to have you enrolled._

_Sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Assistant Headmistress_

Harry's breath caught in his chest. What would he get? Would he be able to be an Auror after school? It all started here. He pulled out his results hesitantly.

**Subject Practical Written O.W.L.******

Care of Magical Creatures 92 90 O

Charms 89 93 E

Defense Against the Dark Arts 130 112 O

Divination 72 70 P

Herbology 84 94 E

History of Magic N/A 47 D

Potions 91 93 O

Transfiguration 93 95 O

Harry sighed heavily; he would indeed be able to take every class he needed. He looked at his list of classes he could choose from. He checked off Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Defense Against the Dart Arts, Herbology, Potions, and Transfiguration. At the bottom of the class list he noticed some new entries. Out of them he also checked Healing and to his great surprise Occlumency.

Harry sent his class list back that day. The next day he was sitting in his room reading one of the advanced defense books from his personal library when a knock interrupted his thoughts.

"Yes?"

Remus entered the room.

"Harry, we need to talk."

"Sure, what about?" Harry asked.

"It's, it's about," Remus looked so tired, "about Sirius's will.

Harry was speechless.

* * *

Thanks for reading!

Endermon - Thanks for the review. They broke his wand, and now we're seeing some of how much he depended on it. But he will get a, err, "replacement".

Thanks cuz for reading. Hope you enjoy the newness. I bet you hate the cliff too. lol.


	3. A Birthday Not Forgotten

Nothing in this story so far has been mine; it goes to Rowling and other corporations. But now, alas, something is mine! Evil Laugh Anyway, let me know about the Amps. Oh, and sorry about the delay, many things happened, hoping to get back on a weekly schedule again. But maybe it'll stall out again; I'm not working with a buffer, oh well.

Chapter 3: A Birthday Not Forgotten

"Wha…wha…what about his will?" Harry finally was able to ask.

"When we go to Diagon Alley, we have to meet with a lawyer for the reading." Lupin replied.

Harry, dumbstruck, just asked, "Why?" His godfather's death was quickly become entirely too final.

"Because it's what Sirius wanted," was all Remus could answer with.

"Who's going to be there?"

"We'll be there with you Harry," Lupin didn't want to add more, but his tired eyes gave him away.

"Who else will be there?" asked Harry in an icy voice knowing he didn't want to know.

"We expect Narcissa Malfoy to show up to contest the will."

"What's she contesting?"

"Well, you were Sirius' godson," Lupin said, not really knowing how to steer this conversation back to somewhere where Harry wouldn't lose his head, "we expect the Black Family fortune to go to you, perhaps some others too. We expect you to be the main benefactor."

"And the Malfoy's want it being the closest blood relation?" Harry stated rather than questioned.

"Well, yes Harry, they do."

"I don't want it."

"If you choose to not accept it, it will go to them."

"No, what, this isn't fair Remus. I take the money I feel guilty for taking what I don't need at the expense of my godfather's death. I refuse it and it goes to help Voldemort in whatever he has planned. This sucks."

"I'm sure you'll think of something Harry," said Lupin, and he left Harry to his thoughts.

The next morning an owl fluttered to Harry while he was having breakfast. He took the note to find it was from Ron.

_Harry,_

_Me, Ginny, and Hermione will be there Monday the twenty-ninth to stay until school starts. Can't wait to get there._

_Ron_

The twenty-ninth was only three days away, so Harry felt no need to reply. After finishing breakfast Remus asked Harry to meet him in the library.

The Black family library was fascinating. It was circular in design, the arched walls felt welcoming though. The walls were floor to ceiling shelves. Every shelf was filled with books. From ancient leather-bound editions that were most probably priceless, to little paperback books that would never appreciate in value. Subjects from dark arts, to defense, charms, transfiguration, Quidditch, to even muggle studies were covered. It contained more information than the library at Hogwarts, but felt intimate enough to actually hold a conversation in. The floor was covered by a rich red carpet, and the domed ceiling was covered by a painting of a phoenixes and ravens flying together in a grey sky. Many sofas like the ones in Harry's room were scattered around, along with a few rich and heavy wooden desks. Armchairs could also be found, each with a reading desk to the side of them.

Harry picked a chair across from Lupin for their conversation.

"Harry, Dumbledore and I have decided that you need to expand your curriculum, if of course you agree to it." Lupin said.

"I chose to continue Occlumency this year." Harry replied.

"Yes, but you may need some outside instruction on this particular subject."

Harry could sense Remus was picking his words very carefully, and he didn't like it at all.

"And what subject would that be?" Harry asked.

"Well, it would actually be a few different subjects." Lupin answered evasively.

"Well, can I get a list?" Harry inquired, his temper flaring a little.

"Of course, we think you could handle four more studies. Wandless and soundless magic, stealth and intrusion, strategy and tactics, and…" Remus sighed heavily, "the dark arts."

Harry's jaw dropped, he regained his composer and asked, "Who would teach me? And when would I learn?"

"If you choose to accept the extra work some of it can begin immediately. Other subjects," he spat out 'subjects' like it was something foul in his mouth, "would have to wait until school began again. Soundless and wandless magic would be taught to you be Professor McGonagall and myself. Stealth and intrusion by Tonks and Moody, strategy and tactics by Kingsley, and the dark arts would come from Professor Snape. Each lesson would come on different days of the week, allowing for schedules outside of the school."

Harry's face had fallen at Snape's name. Last year had been bad enough with him breaking into his mind, but the dark arts, Harry didn't know what would become of this, but it surely couldn't be good. Even with his hesitations he knew he needed this extra training, the prophecy filling his head once more. So with a little reluctance he said, "Fine, but I don't have a wand."

"Well, for my lessons you don't need one." Remus grinned.

"When do we start?" Harry asked feeling a little excited.

"Now if you want, but maybe somewhere a little better suited is called for."

Remus rose and walked out of the second floor library. We went up the stairs towards Harry's room.

"We're practicing in my room?" Harry asked.

"Not at all," replied Lupin.

They stopped in front of the door to Harry's room, but Remus turned right to face the blank wall. He stood in thought then he raised his hand in a fist. He knocked once on a pane of wood, and then he knocked five times on the pane next to it, then once again on the third pane. On the final knock a door manifested itself in front of their eyes. Remus opened the door, and they entered.

Harry had a feeling he was developing a bad habit of letting his jaw drop, but it dropped once again. The room was enormous, cathedral size, all stone with graceful arches ever so often to accentuate its grace. The stone floor glowed a blue as if in moonlight, but it had Celtic tribal designs running through it in gold. The arches glowed the same blue, but midway through they looked to be encased in a wood stained so many times they appeared black. To Harry's immediate right was a small sitting area where two blue chairs with a grey thread running patterns through them awaited the once and current professor as well as student. To his left was a desk with many objects of different sizes awaited for something. An arch separated the room from the rest of the gigantic hallway. Remus led the way to the chairs, gesturing for Harry to sit.

Harry took the seat and asked, "So is this room always here?"

"Yes, but it takes the form of whatever you concentrate on, this is a training area as I imagine it." Lupin answered.

"Like the room of requirement."

"Yes, the knock is like a password to any room you imagine, but you have to think of the combination for each room you think of as well."

"Wicked…"

"Quite," smiled a genuine Remus.

Harry smiled too, but Remus started his first lesson, "Wandless and soundless magic are closely related. You should know what it feels like, it feels like accidental magic, but whereas accidental magic is just that, an accident, wandless and soundless magic can be very controlled." Lupin paused, looked over to the table across the room, and made a book levitate. It floated for a second then flew towards Harry; it slowed down before hitting him full on in the face though, and then dropped into his lap.

Harry looked at the brown leather book, he tried to read the golden script title but it kept merging to form new words, then he realized it was morphing into different languages. He opened to book to see the same thing happening on every page, he closed the book again.

"What's with the book?" he asked Remus.

"Tell it the language you want."

Harry looked down and said 'English' and the title finally formed: _Internal Magic and How to Achieve It_. He flipped through again to make sure he could in fact read everything, he could.

"I want you to read at least a chapter a week, more if time allows," said Remus easily slipping back into his professor mode. "We'll have a discussion on each chapter, as well as practices. But first we must teach you how to reach into your magic on command rather than letting it lash out when you lose control over emotions."

"This sounds a bit like Occlumency," Harry interjected in a moan.

"Yes, they do have a bit in common. And the first steps of wandless soundless magic will help in your lessons in closing your mind. Step one is clearing your mind of thoughts."

Harry groaned again, this was one of his downfalls in Occlumency. He tried really, but miscellaneous thoughts would pop in his mind like 'this is stupid'.

"As I was saying, you need to clear your mind. The easiest way of achieving this is to picture a calming scene. As funny as it is, mine is a full moon over an open landscape. The next step is to drop the landscape so the sky and moon are left. Then I drop the sky and the moon's features. This leaves me with a white circle. Then I expand the circle so all there is left is white. Concentrating on the white, you can just kind of feel your magic. Try it, but with your own calming scene." Remus said giving Harry the feeling this was a lot more effective than Snape yelling 'Clear your mind' and leaving it at that.

Harry closed his eyes and he found a calming scene. He was high above the Hogwarts' grounds, broom level most likely. He could see the castle, and the rolling green lawns, as well as the forest and sky. He dropped the sky, then the castle, the forest was next, then the detail of the lawn, his mind was left with just green. Harry concentrated on the green, and he searched for a feeling, and there it was. At first he felt a twinge right above his stomach, then he felt it flowing outwards, it surged and he felt it flowing through his veins. He opened his eyes to ask Lupin what came next, but he saw Lupin jump and look a little frightened.

"What is it?" asked Harry, but he noticed something wrong too. It was like two voices talking at once, his normal voice in English, and his voice in Parseltongue (the snake language which was mainly hisses).

Remus jumped a little more at this, and then he looked over to the table and with his wand out said "_Accio Mirror"_ and the mirror flew from the table to Lupin's waiting hand. He held it up so Harry could see his face.

Everything looked ok, except for his eyes, they were glowing a very bright, almost toxic emerald green.

"Whoa," Harry said in the mix of English and Parseltongue.

"Well, I see you reached your magic easy enough," Remus said trying to regain composure, "now let's see if you can control it to some degree. Try to get your magic to reach out to the table, and pick something up."

Harry willed his magic over to the table, he tried to pick up a candlestick, but his magic surged a little and the entire table was lifted. Harry panicked and tried to set it down, but the emotion had surged through him and to his magic, the table smashed down, and then was shattered to the stone ground. He panicked a little more and the green calming scene was gone, and he felt his magic return to the small twinge above his stomach.

"Sorry about that," Harry said out of breath. He was glad to hear his voice was back to normal.

"Well, that was very impressive for a first try, a little control and we'll move to the next step." Remus said. "But for now, I think we can call it a day."

The next few days passed with his wandless, soundless magic progressing at alarming speed. He went from smashing the table to smashing the objects, to levitating all the objects, then to actually levitating the desired object. Nights he would read his book until late into the night. The vulnerable feeling he had without his wand was something he didn't desire, so having control without the wand would help a great deal. Harry only hoped Mr. Ollivander could repair his wand. Then a glorious Monday arrived, bringing him his friends that he felt like he hadn't seen in years.

He walked down for his breakfast, forgetting his friends would be here, and knowing Molly wouldn't come today, Harry didn't bother with a shirt. He reached the landing of the stairs and heard his name screeched and he was engulfed in a hug, for a moment all he saw was brown.

"Hey Hermione," he greeted with a hug back.

Next Ron and Harry grasped hands, and pulled each other into a half hug, their hands separating them. They patted each other three times on the back.

"Hey mate," Ron said in greeting.

"About time I got to see you," replied Harry with a grin.

After their release Ginny hugged Harry with such force he could have sworn Mrs. Weasley had taken her place.

"It's great to see you Harry," she said.

"It's good to see you Gin," Harry said releasing her.

After the final hug he noticed Ginny was blushing a slight pink, he followed her line of sight and looked down. After noticing his bare chest he too blushed slightly.

"Gimme a minute," he said rushing back upstairs.

After returning in a plain white shirt to go with his red and gold pajama bottoms they all went to the kitchen for breakfast. After discussing how each other's summers had been, Harry asked them to meet him in the library after he showered. Today he wore an emerald green shirt and some baggy jeans with a pair of white and green Nikes to complete the look. When he entered the library he noticed a smile from Hermione, a dropped jaw from Ron, and a deep blush from Ginny.

"Sirius hooked me up," replied Harry to their looks.

"Well it's better than your usual rags," smirked Ron.

Hermione glared at him before asking Harry, "So you wanted to discuss something?" She looked around the room with a look of longing at the books.

"Yeah, I think the DA needs an upgrade."

"What do you mean?" asked Ginny.

"Well, maybe we'll have a better defense teacher this year, but maybe not. Either way we are all way too advanced than the average sixth and fifth years. Probably seventh too."

"Ok, so we continue the DA," added Hermione, "but what about an upgrade?"

"We need to focus more on combat," answered Harry.

"Combat…?" Ron wanted confirmation.

"Yes, combat and defense," answered Harry.

"What brought this about?" asked Ginny.

"Voldemort is after me, as we all know, and after our little…incident at the ministry, he's going to be after six of us. And with all of us at Hogwarts, he'll know exactly where we all are," Harry said matter of factly.

"I see what you mean," said Ron like he had already thought of it.

"So are we talking the entire DA?" asked Hermione.

"No, only the ones we can trust entirely. Also we need to continue the normal DA for younger students and those who need the continued easier training."

"Who do you have in mind?" asked Ginny.

"I only know six so far, we all know who we are," answered Harry.

"So what about a name, and the meetings and things, what are we? The Real Dumbledore's Army?" asked Ron.

"No, we need a different name, this time without implications to any given person," replied Harry.

"What about the Sect of Unified Light?" asked Ginny.

"Was that off the top of your head?" asked Harry.

"No, I always thought that was a good name, you know SOUL," replied Ginny timidly.

"I love it!" exclaimed Hermione.

"Me too," added Harry giving Ginny a smile.

"Then it's settled, we'll be the soul of Hogwarts," Ron giving the final nonofficial vote.

"So how will this work?" asked Hermione.

"I thought we could break it up between us. Thinking of possible attacks, we need divisions. I've been reading some of the defense books lately, and every good army has divisions. Voldemort isn't stupid, so he must have them too, like his inner circle and such. We need to think ahead to avoid…certain…mishaps." Harry finished, his mention of his godfather hadn't gone unnoticed.

"So what divisions did you have in mind?" asked Hermione smally.

Thankful for not dwelling on his previous mistake Harry answered, "I thought I would take air, you know, fighting and defending on brooms. That's my strongpoint, flying. Adding in magic should be a great advantage. I think everyone should pick their own division, the four of us, plus Neville and Luna will head up a division each."

"So we pick our own?" asked Ron.

Harry nodded.

"Then I'll take strategy. You know, ground placement, like my strength in chess."

Harry smiled in agreement.

"I'll take hex training if it's alright with everyone. It's the only thing I can think of," chimed in Ginny.

"That'll be brilliant," said Harry.

"What about me?" asked Hermione. "All I know is books, what use is that?"

"You could chunk 'em at death eaters," said Ron.

Hermione gave him a glare, but before she could retort Harry cut her off.

"How about intelligence? You could handle all internal problems, our planning and stuff. You are the most advanced at those kinds of things."

"Yeah, ok, I guess that makes sense," replied Hermione.

"You'd be our backbone," said Ginny hearing the small disappointment in Hermione's voice.

"You're right, I'll start immediately on communications, I think that'll be our first problem anyway," said Hermione.

"What about Neville and Luna?" asked Ron.

"It's up to them," replied Harry. "I don't know when we'll see them next, and I don't want this put down in writing in any shape or form." He finished more to Hermione.

The next few days passed in a blur, Harry kept at his training, and his three friends joined in. Ginny was the only one progressing at all at the wandless and soundless magic much to Hermione's disappointment. On the first lesson Harry showed them the remnants of his wand. None of them had anything encouraging to say, but realizing that they couldn't entirely depend on their wands, they all redoubled their efforts at the new lessons with Remus.

On Wednesday Harry woke up and showered first. He dressed in his new muggle clothes again, this time a black shirt with tribal flames on his chest. Blue jean cargo pants and a pair of white shoes called Globe, with urban camouflage inserted on the sides were also chosen. He went down for breakfast, but at the bottom landing he received his first shock of the day. Neville and Luna were awaiting him.

"Hey Harry," greeted Neville.

"How's it going?" greeted Luna.

"Hi, what are you two doing here?" asked Harry confused.

"Dumbledore said you could use the company," replied Neville, "he said since you trusted us, so could he, so he gave us the address."

"Oh," was all Harry could manage.

"Not happy to see us?" asked Luna as if it didn't matter one way or another.

"No, not at all, I'm really glad to see you. Just wasn't expecting it."

"Surprise," said Luna in her far off voice. Harry jumped a little; it was disturbing sometimes the way Luna did things like that.

"So how about breakfast?" suggested Neville, "I'm a bit hungry, I haven't eaten yet."

"Alright," said Harry, leading the way to the kitchen.

When he opened the door Harry received his second…

"SURPRISE!" echoed off the walls from many people. Harry jumped very badly as his heart tried to leap out of his chest. Looking around he saw many faces he recognized. Moody, Tonks, Kingsley, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, were all there. Also he saw Remus, Professor McGonagall, and for his third surprise, Professor Dumbledore. Mrs. and Mr. Weasley were there, along with Fred and George, Bill, and Charlie Weasley. Harry scanned the room again and found a couple of more people he did not expect, mainly Victor Krum and Fleur Delacour.

"What the hell?" Harry said the first thing in his head.

Many people laughed but Dumbledore answered with his eyes twinkling.

"Happy birthday Harry."

His jaw dropped, he had never had a proper birthday party.

After a morning breakfast Harry just sat at the end of the table, happy and content for the first time in a long time. Hermione, Ron, and Ginny were discussing the S.O.U.L. to Neville and Luna in very low conspiratorial voices. Luna excitedly offered to take up spell creation for their cause. Neville though didn't have a clue what he could contribute. Harry assured him that he would figure it out by the time of their first meeting.

He looked down the table; the remainder of the Weasley family was discussing something in their own low voices. Harry couldn't hear much, but he did hear certain words slip through the rest of the noise, like "missions", "danger", and "access". Thinking it was probably something trivial he ignored it.

The Aurors and teachers were in an animated talk about defense of key locations and people. Harry perked up when they started to talk about the security risk of the upcoming elections and the candidates. But as he listened Dumbledore caught his eye from across the table. The old man gave Harry a small smile and nodded at the second table conjured for his party, it was stacked with presents. Harry smiled back in thanks for the day.

Dumbledore stood, "Perhaps the presents then?" he suggested.

Everyone nodded in agreement and he cleared their table. Next with a wave of his wand the presents were in front of Harry. He dug in with great enthusiasm. He received a lot from the people, from simple candies, to clothes, to a mini foeglass from Moody, a golden pendant from Hermione in the shape of a lion and a red pendant in the shape of a phoenix from Ginny, and many books on defense. After they were all opened Albus approached Harry with a wrapped package.

Harry opened it hesitantly, inside was an extended type of…glove. He examined it; it was like two pieces that would extend around his wrist to where his fingers were based. It had two straps to tighten it so it would rest secured. There was a flexible mesh that also would get the glove on; a hole was in it for the thumb. The palm side was a hard material Harry had never seen before, and three stones rested in the material. A small pearly black one glinted in the rooms light, also a read and amber one were below the black. It all was confusing really, he had never seen anything like this, why was Dumbledore giving it to him?

The headmaster noticing Harry's confusion decided to explain.

"This is an Amp. It works just like a wand, but the stones actually amplify the magic more than a wand. I hear it's quite popular in America."

Hermione had a dark look on her face; Harry could tell she was thinking about something she had read.

"What are those stones?" asked Remus.

"Those act like the magical core of a wand. The red is bloodstone; it's supposed to do well with transfiguration. The amber is just that, amber. It's supposed to work wonders for charms, jinxes, and hexes. The black, is a solidified phoenix's tear. It is a very rare thing. The tear is supposed to be great for defense and healing."

Harry gaped at the extraordinary gift. "Th..Thanks," he finally said with a smile.

"Perhaps you should try it on," Dumbledore said with a wink.

Harry slipped the Amp onto his right hand. His fingers extended past the top freely. He tightened one strap around his wrist, then another smaller strap around his knuckles. Through his training he felt a surge in his magic; it was drawn to the stones.

"The motions are just like those for a wand Harry, give it a try," Dumbledore said.

Harry waved a familiar motion of a flick and swish with his hand, wrist, and fingers and said, "_Wingardium__ Leviosa_" and the empty conjured table flew to the ceiling with great speed.

* * *

Sherry – Sorry about the wait, I didn't expect a thousand extra words. Then GTA SA came out, then the elections hit. Four more years, suddenly assign… seems viable, but wrong. Maybe these four can go better, but probably not.

Lacy – Thanks so much for the review! Everyone who hasn't read her story go read it! Like now, really, go on. Well, I hope I answered the wand controversy with this chapter. I know Remus and Harry have a lot of unresolved emotion, but right now I think they are burying those emotions right now, so everything should be forced, but resolution is coming ;). I don't have a clue how British elections work either, so I'm just gonna say a popular vote is held. Bland I know, I'm hoping story covers up some of these mistakes. Sorry about the errors, I try to read them over before posting, but some things have always plagued me. Only a few years ago I figured out the quit, quite, and quiet differences. Ever so often I revert to the wrong words though. ) Don't know where to get a beta, I'm getting my cousin to try and help though. Thanks again for the review, and anyone who still hasn't gone to read her story, GO!


	4. Welcome Back to Diagon Alley

Such a delay, for this?!? Sorry, busy, ya'll should know how that works, anyway, I'm trying to redouble my efforts, but some new stuff is on the way. And yeah the ending was rushed, but that happens. And still no beta so errors ahead. And yeah, I still don't own anything that can be found anywhere else.

* * *

**Chapter 4: Welcome Back to Diagon Alley**

After the table crashed with the ceiling Dumbledore only smiled and vanished the pieces away.

"It appears your Amp will do you well," he mused, "once you learn a little more…control."

Harry just smiled his thanks.

After the party everyone went their own ways. For the days final surprise Luna and Neville informed Harry that they were staying the rest of the month. They both joined in with the wandless and soundless magic training with Remus Lupin. Luna was horrendous at this form of magic, but Neville surpassed everyone but Harry in it. Within a few days Neville figured out what he'd do for the S.O.U.L., he would head up healing, something he was very good at (he learned this after his Uncle tried to surprise the magic out of him so many times, Neville had a lot of self-healing going on), also he knew every medical plant out there.

On Friday Lupin told Harry they would be required to attend the reading of Sirius's will on Monday. They would also be getting their school supplies while there. Needless to say Harry was not looking forward to the weekend ending.

Time has a funny way of acting whenever you want it to act a certain way. Saturday and Sunday completely flew by with nothing very interesting happening. Before he knew it Monday morning had arrived.

Harry awoke groggily to a very dark and rainy day. He showered and dressed in a black t-shirt, black pants, and black dress shoes. He put on some robes Sirius had obviously had made for him, over his left breast was the new Potter crest. After placing his glasses on he returned to the bathroom to try and tame his unruly jet black hair, but it was a losing battle. After conceding from that battle he strapped his Amp onto his hand. With a heavy sigh he left his room.

On the second floor he was greeted by the rest of the Sect of Unified Light. Each were wearing dress robes too, Ron, Neville, Hermione, and Ginny were all in black. Luna dressed in a white and light blue mix. It seemed almost like a funeral procession.

The six friends continued down, on the ground floor the group was greeted by Remus Lupin, Tonks, Kingsley, Moody, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and Dumbledore. Harry wondered if they were just on guard duty, or if this too had something to do with the will. He assumed it had to be something about Order business, or Dumbledore wouldn't have been there.

"This portkey," Dumbledore pulled out a piece of parchment that had a letterhead that looked to be from an attorney, "will take us to Mr. Marcus's office."

Everyone knew what to do, all of them crowded around touching a piece of the parchment. Harry heard Dumbledore say, "Alright, everyone touching? Good, on three, two, one."

A jerk behind the navel and Harry could feel other people being forced into his sides. A moment later they were all thrown back to their original positions; he stumbled a little but caught his balance. Ginny who was beside him caught his shoulder to stay upright. Neville, Luna, Ron, and Hermione were sprawled in various positions on the floor. The adults all seemed nonplussed by the journey.

"Welcome," greeted a reception witch, "you are here for the Black reading?"

Dumbledore nodded.

"Follow me please," she said in her high-pitched but dull voice.

She led them down a hallway; at the end was a simple door with only a label reading 'Conference'. She opened the door and gestured for them to go in. The room was simple, a dark rich wood encompassed the walls, the floor was the same wood but stained a shade darker. A long table of black was in the center, along with many black chairs circling it. Dumbledore took a seat, this was the signal everyone needed, and they all took seats too. Harry was in the middle of the table, Lupin sat on his right while Hermione was on his left. Silence closed in on all of them, left only to their solitary thoughts.

Five minutes passed when Narcissa Malfoy entered the room like some Queen about to claim a country and add it to her empire. Draco Malfoy entered in her wake; he noticed Harry and gave a superior smile.

Another five minutes passed, and Harry had thought of several ways to deal with Draco, when a middle aged wizard entered the room. He was in a fancy three pieced robe suit, his gray hair accentuated by his black beard. He gave an aura that commanded people to listen.

"I am Mr. Marcus," he glanced around the room taking a head count, "you are all here for the reading of Mr. Black's last will and testament?"

Harry looked up and down the table, Dumbledore nodded to Mr. Marcus.

"Then we'll begin." Mr. Marcus took out a piece of parchment, laid it on the table, and tapped it with his wand. To Harry's shock and horror, Sirius's voice echoed into the room.

"I, Sirius Black, of sound mind and body, am here to leave record of my last will and testament."

Harry's mind went unfocused as he heard his godfather speaking. Tears were forming but he would not let them go. Anyone who was watching Harry would notice that his eyes seemed to sink into shadows. He began to think again, blaming himself for the death of one of his parent's closest friends.

…How could I have been so stupid?

He couldn't hear anything until he heard his godfather speaking to him.

"To Harry James Potter, I leave the contents of the Black Family vault at Gringotts. I also leave half the contents of my personal vault. To Remus Lupin I leave the other half of my personal vault. To Albus Dumbledore I leave the most ancient and noble house of Black. Please continue your good work there."

His godfather's voice had stopped. Harry wasn't listening again, but Mr. Marcus was speaking again.

"If that is all I will bring forth the paperwork to finalize everything," he said.

"Excuse me," Narcissa Malfoy interjected, "but I would like to contest this entire proceeding."

"And what would you like to contest this under?" Mr. Marcus politely asked her.

"Seeing as how Sirius Black was an escaped convict, I don't see how any of this could have any real legal implications. If he is truly dead anything of value should be split between living _blood_ relatives."

"Albus Dumbledore has given me proof that Sirius Black is in fact deceased."

"Then it's settled, seeing as I'm the closest Black relative who can legally receive anything…" but she had been cut off by Mr. Marcus.

"I'm sorry, but I do not see how this will can not be taken seriously."

"He was a convict," she said shortly, "He can not bequeath anything. The will is null and void."

"That _would_ be true," Mr. Marcus continued and Harry began to perk up a little, "if he had in fact been convicted of anything. He was illegally jailed without trial, and that lawsuit is for another time, but has been filed."

At this Mrs. Malfoy faltered. She gaped at the triumphant lawyer. She jerked up, her upper lip in a snarl, "Come on Draco, we are leaving."

Draco rose too, shooting Harry a final hateful glare, the Malfoy's left.

After leaving the attorney's office Harry was still plagued in silence. The group was making its way to Gringotts bank for a withdrawal to purchase school supplies. The street was packed with families all doing their own shopping for the upcoming year, most thankful the rain had died out. Harry, barely paying attention did notice quite a few spells flying around. Most of them coming from underage wizards, he opened his mouth to ask Mr. Weasley about this when a cluster of red light heading his way caught his attention. Harry backhanded the stunner spell with his Amp. As the spell flew into the air he managed to find his attacker in the crowd.

Malfoy was gaping at Harry, his wand steady pointing towards Harry. Harry rushed him, his left hand around his throat.

"If you think I'm going to put up with your petty little taunts and antics this year you are sadly mistaken," Harry hissed to the platinum blonde Slytherin.

"Yeah? And what are you going to do about it hero?" Draco choked out.

Harry tightened his grip a little. Draco swung his arm at Harry's freeing himself, in a second his wand was on Harry again.

"Excuse me; do you have a problem boogey boy?" Ginny asked now at Harry's side, her wand out. With her were Hermione, Ron, Neville, and Luna, all with their wands at the ready.

Out of the crowd Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode, and Theodore Nott emerged with wands out.

Nott glanced around, grinned and said, "One up."

Before a full scale battle could ensue in the streets of Diagon Alley, Dumbledore decided to step in.

"Not any problems?" he asked no one in particular.

The Slytherins hastily put their wands in the pockets of their robes. The Gryffindors plus a Ravenclaw lowered their wands. Harry still hadn't showed his Amp as what it really was yet.

"Harry, perhaps it's time we left," Dumbledore eased Harry.

"Fine," Harry spit in distaste, and as he walked by he shoved Draco to the ground.

"This year hero, you'll get yours," Draco Malfoy sneered.

The group was leaving though; Ron stopped, took an exaggerated step, and kicked mud backwards into Malfoy's face.

Before arriving at the bank Harry did get to ask his question.

"Why aren't ministry owls swooping down with threatening letters to all these kids using magic?"

"Mainly because of you Harry," answered Dumbledore.

"Me? How do they have anything to do with me?

"The D.A. of course," replied Dumbledore, "they have been so inspired that they have continued to practice throughout the summer. Some…other…students have also been practicing, sadly, for preparations against you. With all the magic being performed, and with the current Minister…lacking…in certain qualities, he lifted the underage band. Now the Ministry is focused only on any Unforgivables being cast."

"Why do you think you haven't received any letters for the training this summer?" chimed in Lupin.

"I thought it might have had something to do with the house," Harry laughed.

Before he knew it the tall white building that was Gringotts Wizarding Bank loomed before him. Upon approaching a goblin opened the door for the group of wizards with a bow. In the cavernous lobby Harry noticed Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour chatting animatedly about something.

"If you'll pardon me for a moment," Dumbledore bowed away, Lupin following slowly.

Harry gave Bill and Fleur a wave as the rest of the Weasleys joined the two. Harry not feeling like having a joyful conversation at the moment stayed back with Hermione, Neville, and Luna. Tonks was making her way to a teller, knocking over a few ropes that were held by magic to lead the line. Kingsley Shacklebolt and Mad-Eye Moody hovered behind Harry.

Neville and Luna began some mundane conversation that Harry could not make himself interested in. Hermione looked at him sadly.

"Are you ok Harry?" she asked lightly touching his arm.

"Yeah, it's just, a lot. You know?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean," she replied with a weak smile.

Harry noticed a flicker in her eyes. Maybe it was the light of the room, but something told him that Hermione might have known more than he could guess. Before he had a chance to ask what it was Dumbledore was back.

"Harry, a moment please," the headmaster requested.

After leading Harry to a private room that was little more than a solitary desk with two chairs the older wizard sat gesturing the other chair was for Harry. Harry hesitantly took the seat, usually when Dumbledore wanted you to sit what followed wasn't the best news in the world.

Dumbledore pulled a ring of keys from his cloak and placed it on the table. It jingled gently before he spoke.

"Your parents requested that after your sixteenth birthday that you receive your keys for their vaults. Also there are the keys for the vaults Sirius has left to you."

Harry sat numbly staring at the seven keys before him. He seemed to regain some sense though, as much as he didn't want to know anymore for the day he had to ask.

"Professor, why are there seven keys?"

"Three are for the Black family fortune, one for the Black family vault of personal effects. Two are for the Potter family fortune, one for the Potter family vault of artifacts."

"Oh…" was all Harry managed to say for a while. "Sir, can I just get an inventory of everything in these vaults? Also, is there a way I can just take money from my vault without having to go there every time?"

At these questions Dumbledore rose, "Just let me get someone to answer you better Harry." At this he left Harry to brood in his thoughts again. It only took about ten minutes for him to return though, a goblin in tow.

The goblin spoke first, "Mr. Harry Potter as questions about accounts?"

"You're Griphook aren't you? I met you the first time I came here." Harry half asked half stated.

A surprised look spread over the goblin's face, Dumbledore's long beard twitched in a smile, a sparkle returning to his eyes that Harry only noticed now was absent for the morning.

"Yes Mr. Potter, I am Griphook," the goblin recovered.

"Yes, I had two questions actually. One, can I get an inventory of every vault that I have, and two, is there a way I can access my vaults without actually having to come and make a withdrawal every time?"

"Yes Mr. Potter, the first is easy enough," the goblin waved his long fingers and produced a book, "this is an inventory of your seven vaults." He handed the book to Harry; Harry wanted to start reading right away but decided against it.

"As for your second question, we have a few options for you. For a yearly fee of fifty galleons we offer a pouch that will allow you to access two hundred galleons at anytime you need. For a yearly fee of one hundred galleons we offer a wallet that will allow you to access five hundred galleons whenever you need and the equivalent in any muggle form as well. Finally for a one time fee of five thousand galleons we offer a case, that will not only let you access the entire contents of your currency, in any magical or muggle form, but will also let you transport any item to and from your vaults."

Harry milling over his options flipped his inventory book open to a random page, he noticed that one vault had the sum of twenty five million galleons. The thought of so much money was almost obscene to him. Shutting the book he looked up at Griphook.

"I'll take the case."

After a blood charm, an explanation on how the case worked, and an explanation about its defenses Harry walked out of the bank with his case shrunken in his pocket next to his keys. His inventory book safely locked in his case. He, his friends, and their guard (minus Dumbledore who had to return to Hogwarts) were on their way to shop. Harry had to refill his potion stores, get new robes for he had outgrown his, pick up some treats for Hedwig, grab new textbooks for his new classes and for his private classes, and then it was off to Quality Quidditch Supplies. Earlier in the summer he received the news that his former professor Umbridge had incinerated his Firebolt. At this news he vowed to hunt and hurt that foul woman, Ron whole heartedly agreed to help him with this endeavor.

Entering the shop Harry noticed that both the new Firebolt SE and the Nimbus FX were present and in stock. He looked at both longingly, and then made his decision on what to do as a flash of the sum of one of his vaults appeared in his mind.

He approached the counter, "Sir?" he asked the clerk.

"Hmm?" was all the clerk had for a response.

"Between the FX and SE, which is better for seeking and which is better for chasing?"

"FX is standard for chasing this year, SE is for seeking." He said shortly still not looking at Harry but at a magazine lying on the counter.

"Thank you," Harry said before continuing, "I'll take both."

"Yeah, whatever you say kid," the man looked up to see Harry's lighting bolt shaped scar, a horrified look overtook his eyes. "S-S-Sorry about that, most kids say that like a joke. I-I-I'll just go get the brooms for you." And the clerk scurried to the back room.

After returning Harry pulled his metallic and black leather case from Gringotts out of his pocket. The clerk rang up the total, which Harry in turn spoke to his case. Upon opening it the total amount was lined neatly ready for payment. After the transaction Harry placed both brooms into the seemingly empty void that was the case's interior and snapped it shut again. He thanked the clerk for his time and left the store.

The entourage then decided on their final stop, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. The group trooped to number 93 of Diagon Alley. It was a tall building smashed in between its neighbors. It basically looked stretched upwards, the new paint was flaming Weasley red. They all entered the shop to find it extended far into the back, like a giant hallway. The right wall was covered in the twin's newest inventions. The aisles were stocked with the older products, from extendable ears to their own assortment of fireworks. To the left were the cashier's location and a display case for some of the more serious needs of any future pranksters. Manning the till was Lee Jordan, dreadlocks and all. He smiled warmly over the line of customers heads and waved at the new arrivals. From a stairway in the left back corner of the room the twins Fred and George descended. They were in deep discussion and when they looked up identical smiles came to their face.

"Harry, along with," said Fred.

"Family, and friends," said George.

"How lovely to see you," they said together.

"It is nice to see you again," chimed in Harry. The group looked to him like he lost his mind; he was in the same tone and timing as the twins.

"Friends," said George, Fred continued, "and family," then they both spoke, "Please help yourselves, everything's on the house, and Harry, care to join us?"

Harry shrugged and followed two contenders to Hogwarts' Greatest Pranksters award up the stairs. The loft had two beds to one side, and an open view of the ground floor of the shop on the other. In the middle was a work table, and Harry with held a laugh, many scorch marks.

Fred went to the table and started searching for something.

"We would like to present our business partner with something…" George trailed off.

"Special," Fred offered as a finished thought.

"Yes, special, and not being produced as of yet, but you my young Harry, are receiving six," continued George.

"And perhaps young master Harry here can relay his feed back to us," said Fred.

"What is it?" asked Harry.

"We'll let you figure it out," both brothers said together.

After restocking on fireworks, extendable ears, and other fine prankster products the students and guard returned to Number 12 courtesy another portkey. That night most of the house was sound asleep, Hermione after downing another potion at diner, but Harry was wide awake in his room pouring over his Gringotts inventory.

* * *

Trunks – Lupin and McGonagall are there to teach Harry the basics. Once he has that he'll pretty much be on his own in learning, Dumbledore will be very busy this year ) 

Lacy – No probs on the plug, everyone still needs to leave this rubbish and check it out instead ) Ok, thanks, for the underage reminder, I know it was mentioned earlier, but it completely left my mind. Oh well, hope I covered it well enough. Thanks for the props on the training room, I liked it and have found descriptions as a strong point, as for the schedule, it won't really be a focal point other than one chapter. Its funny with Ron, I have grown to really not like him, so I guess its fitting mine works LOL. Yes, the mini foeglass was there for a reason, actually Hermione might be interested in….Theology, not sure if it'll crop up or not, but probably in some way. Harry does need a party, but I don't think it'll come in HBP, maybe in the seventh though.

Thanks for reading!


	5. Dual Training

Ya'll know it ain't mine, if it were you'd have to pay to read it and I would be getting paid. As it is I have lost my job, and then holidays kicked in, sorry for the delay but other things were on my mind. Still looking for a new job and this may not be up to par, I still don't have a beta so some things may be off, sorry but I don't have time to write and edit. Anyway, here ya go.

**Chapter 5: Dual Training**

It was the final week before school started and everything was normal. Well, as normal as things around Harry Potter get. Order members came and went, checking and guarding while Harry and friends would train and do homework. Each friend set up schedules for themselves, Harry and much to his surprise Neville had the most vigorous days planned for themselves. Starting with running and weight training, a light breakfast, homework and school study, lunch, wandless magic, afternoon tea, a friendly duel, dinner, and finally some free time before bed, at that rate both boys were filling out to their frames. Neville being a bit broader was gaining muscle and strength while Harry naturally being smaller was becoming toned and very fast. Everyone else opted for a similar schedule, no one ran with them or did the weight lifting, and Luna decided to drop the wandless magic while Hermione only watched the duels instead of participating.

It was Tuesday before they would be going back to school, after an exhausting day all six were lounging in the library discussing various subjects.

"But we have to win this year," Ron was carrying on with Ginny.

"Of course we will, I just wonder what Slytherin will be like this year," she replied.

"Dirtier than ever, I hope Malfoy breaks something before school," Ron grinned.

"We could arrange that," Ginny said adding mischief to her own grin.

"Honestly, can't we have a discussion without Quidditch coming up?" Hermione pleaded.

"No," said Ron and Ginny at the same time. Hermione released a sigh and went to join Luna who was reading.

Neville was sprawled in the floor laying on his stomached with his head and arms propped up on a pillow from a couch. He was writing out some kind of chart.

Harry, happy to be among his friends smiled contentedly from the recliner he was occupying.

"What is he thinking?"

Harry looked around for who was talking. Noting that only Ginny and Ron were still in conversation he shrugged and went to look for a book.

"He does look good," the disembodied voice continued.

Starting to feel a bit panicky Harry continued to look for a book.

"I'm just being stupid, like he'd ever notice…me"

Now becoming truly freaked out Harry said his goodnights and rushed to bed.

In the morning Harry had a fine voice-free start to the day. After a shower he got ready for the day in his practical workout clothes, blue cloth shorts, a white sleeveless shirt, and running shoes. After he met up with Neville they began another hard day. After becoming completely winded the two teens pushed themselves hard with the weight training in the magically enhanced workout room. Harry headed to his room for another shower before breakfast. He stood under the hot water letting his body loosen up when it happened again.

"Where is he?" "I wonder what she's doing right now." "She is beautiful." "Where the hell did I put it?" "I hate that mother…" "MOMMY" "I can't believe this," "Harry," "Harry?"

"Harry?!"

It took him a moment to sort through all the voices to realize he knew the speaker of the last one. It took another moment to realize that the last voice was actually speaking.

"Be with you in a minute Headmaster," Harry called from the shower, pulled from the voices and leaving him with one thought, what the hell is going on.

Harry quickly dressed and opened the door to reveal a very twinkling eyed Dumbledore.

"Hello Harry,"

"Good morning professor."

"Interesting day?" the older man asked.

"Yeah, wait, you know don't you?"

"Alas, I too was bothered when it first happened."

"What is it professor?"

"It would be a rare form of legilimency. Sometimes known as telepathy, but whatever you heard in muggle television is probably wrong," the Headmaster's beard twitched in a smile.

"So…I can read minds?

"No, you can hear thoughts."

"Oh," Harry replied flabbergasted, "It's always me isn't it?"

"Yes Harry, it tends to be, I am sorry, but this year the focus of the Wizarding world will not be on you I'm sure."

"What do you mean professor?"

"You'll see," answered Dumbledore as he exited the room.

"Just great, now I get to hear what everyone is thinking," Harry grumbled, then a mischievous grin crept across his face, "I'll get to hear what everyone's thinking."

Harry headed to the kitchen for breakfast, at the landing he noticed Dumbledore sitting at the table, evidently there were more things to discuss. Molly Weasley was cooking, and upon noticing Harry gave him a customary bone crushing hug.

'He looks so tired,' a sad voice echoed in his head, it was Molly's and he thought she was talking; his jaw had opened to reply when the Headmaster cleared his throat. Harry decided he definitely needed control over this new ability as soon as possible.

"Morning all," called Harry to the room full of the people he knew.

Miscellaneous good morning greetings surrounded him. He took his seat when he heard something that had to be someone's thought.

'He _has_ gotten sexy after his workouts…"

Harry stared around to see who was thinking about whom, but it was useless at this time. He was glad though to determine it was a female's thought. The headmaster chuckled.

'Glad you think its funny,' Harry thought.

'Sorry,' he heard the Headmaster reply without moving his lips or making a sound.

'This will get some getting used to,' thought Harry.

'That it will, but I will help you when school begins,'

After breakfast everyone stayed at the table discussing various topics. Harry amused himself by trying to hear what each person was thinking while they were talking. What he found really strange was that no one's inner voice matched their real voice. Dumbledore said something that brought the room to a dead silence.

"Harry, I believe it is time for you to join the Order of the Phoenix," Dumbledore started, and then finished after seeing something shift in Harry's eye, "that is if it is still your desire."

Harry's answer turned the room from dead silence to deafening quiet.

"No, I don't think it is," Harry answered.

"But don't you want to know what's going on?" Hermione asked like Harry was trying to slap her by denying her information.

"How will we know what's happening?" Ron asked like Harry had gone mental.

Ginny went silent thinking, Neville shook his head slightly, and Luna just smiled vacantly at Harry.

"I don't care what's going to happen this year, I want one year where nothing happens, where danger is a far away thing, where I'm not almost dieing or actually watching someone else die." Harry retorted almost losing his calm completely.

"I see, well at any rate if anything terribly important arises I'll let you know. Is that fair?" Dumbledore replied.

"I see no flaw this time Headmaster," Harry answered with a little bitterness in his voice.

"What about the rest of us? What if we still want to join?" Hermione inquired.

"With your parents permission I see no problem," evaded Dumbledore.

Ron and Ginny huffed, Neville shrugged, Hermione's face turned a bit downcast, and Luna laughed. After a few inquisitive looks she explained her reaction.

"It seems that I would be the only one who could join, and it seems I'm the only one who doesn't want to, I thought it was funny."

"Well, that is all I had, if there are no more questions I need to be off. I will see you all in a few days," The Headmaster said his goodbye and left the kitchen.

The friends just sat there, a little dumbfounded, and not knowing what to say. Harry was starting to hear their voices but he fought it off, suddenly it felt like a violation to just invade what they were thinking. Silently, each rose from the table to continue with their day.

After some studying, lunch, and a little progression in wandless magic all six friends settled into the training room for their friendly duels. Harry began with Neville, each circling the other, Neville's wand pointed at the mass that was Harry's chest. Harry's amp was glowing, his pointer finger and middle finger held together pointing at Neville's head, he learned he had much better accuracy using his amp over his fallen wand. The two kept at the circling each looking for an opening, a weakness, a tell. Neville's left hand twitched a little, Harry jumped to the side opposite of the way he was moving, and the red stunner flew to where he had been. Rolling on the ground he quickly regained his aim and shot a yellow spell at his opponent, but no one found out what was supposed to happen as Neville quickly performed his own roll towards Harry. Harry not expecting it tried to follow the movements but Neville had the advantage, his wand pointing at Harry's head when he exited the roll.

"_Stupefy_!"

The red spell was flying at his face; it was too late to perform a blocking spell. It was too late to dodge, he had one choice and that was to try and hit it away using his amp. The amp caught most of the spell, but part of it still connected, not enough to knock him out, but the left side of his face was numb.

'DAMN! I almost had him,' Harry heard Neville think. He was losing his composure.

The five minute mark was approaching rapidly, Harry knew another friend would join in, he didn't know who, or from where, the only reason he knew was because this is how he trained. Every five minutes someone would join. He had only gotten up to three so far, he wanted the fourth, today was his day, he could feel it.

He and Neville continued the duel, spells back and forth but no clear advantage was gained by either opponent. Then five minutes hit, Harry started to glance around for his next target, but it never came. Six minutes, seven, eight, but nothing came at nine minutes either and he was getting tired, Neville was throwing everything at him, including a transfigured kitchen sink.

Ten minutes, and nothing, no one joined in.

'What the hell is going on,' Harry thought.

He then tried to listen for the other's thoughts, but the wards of protection encircling the dueling area must be blocking him. Neville then brought his attention fully back to the task at hand. Red, blue, yellow, silver, and orange were all flying at Harry fast, too fast. The line of spells were coming, he was stuck in the middle of them. He looked at the silver jet of light flying to him, it was too strong to block, he didn't know a counter for it, and he couldn't dodge.

Neville's breath caught in his chest. He hadn't won against Harry one on one, and he really wanted to. At the last moment Harry did something desperate, a spell he only recently learned in one of the ancient books of the Black library.

"_Parco_!"

Reality seemed to bend around Harry, Neville gasped the breath that was caught when Harry disappeared and the point where he was melted around his form, the spells zoomed around where Harry hid himself in nothing. Then the spells rushed back to the originator.

'Aw shi…' Neville thought before the red stunner he created hit him square in the chest effectively knocking him out.

Harry's spell wore off; the duel had lasted fourteen minutes. He was breathing heavily and he jumped when Ron and Ginny shot stunners his way. He dodged both and noticed Luna awakening Neville. He had been dueling for fifteen minutes, and now he had four opponents.

Harry was backed up, Ron then Ginny then Luna then Neville formed a half circle around him. His options were running thin; he could tell that they were all about to start firing at maximum speed, and at full power. It was time for something desperate.

Before any of his opponents had a chance to fire at him he waved his amp hand in an arch to match their positions. A blue wave formed and then blasted out, but much too late he realized he put more power into the spell than he had planned. The wave started to fly out to his friends, he tried to reign in his magic, and it did slow down…a bit.

Ron and Neville were able to dodge to the side, Ginny flattened herself to the floor, and Luna threw up a protection spell. The spell was useless against the wave and Harry knew it.

"No, Luna get out of the way!" Harry screamed but it was too late. The spell broke her barrier easily then the blue wave hit Luna directly in her chest. Time seemed to slow down a little, Harry saw her arch back, it looked so familiar, she was falling away, so familiar, her head collided with the wall. It felt so familiar.

Luna was in her bed, in the room she shared with Ginny and Hermione. All six friends were in the room, Madam Pomfrey had been by. She healed what she could but the spell Harry used made healing a complicated matter. Her head was bandaged, but the bleeding had stopped. The bandages were holding ice packs to her cranium. The healer had told them what the spell did, it was an ancient magic that stopped Luna's magic from doing its natural job. That's why it broke the _Protego_ spell so easily. That's why Luna hadn't awoken yet. It was Harry's fault.

All was silent; Harry was in a corner occupying himself with a fresh wave of self-loathing. He couldn't hold back during training, but he couldn't pour himself into a Cruciatus curse when it counted. He couldn't do anything right, yet he was supposed to face Voldemort. This is all wrong.

But his thoughts were broken.

"H-Harry?" a very weak voice asked for him.

Harry sprang out of his corner and was at Luna's side. She smiled weakly at him. Her hand began a slow search until it rested on Harry's hand; she gave it a reassuring squeeze. It was Harry's turn to give a weak smile, and then he felt a pull, from right above his stomach.

Luna was growing brighter and looking better, but Harry was getting paler. He was losing focus, and then all was nothing.

Harry awoke in his bed, and his friends surrounded him. Harry stared around the room, he laughed at the absurdity of the roles being reversed.

"What happened?" he asked anyone.

"S-Sorry," Luna started sheepishly. Then her voice died out.

Harry tried to rise up a little but his body was impossibly stiff.

"Ahh, hell!" the pain shot through him.

"Just rest Harry," Ginny told him.

"Ok, Luna, what did you do?"

"I-I-I used some of your magic to heal myself. I'm sorry Harry, I didn't mean to…" she trailed off again.

"I thought that was a myth!" exclaimed Hermione.

"N-No, I-I've done it before."

Luna was crying, Harry felt bad for her being so broken up.

"Its ok Luna, if I hadn't done that particular spell you'd never had to borrow my power."

"Speaking of which," Hermione started in on Harry, "why are you training so hard?"

"Umm, well, you know," he said trying to escape the question.

"No, I don't know. You didn't join the Order; you're hoping Voldemort, honestly Ron, will leave you alone this year, why are you training so hard? I mean it's your whole day!" she finished very quickly.

Harry sat for a while in silence. Anyone watching his eyes, and most of his friends were, could see a war brewing behind his eyes.

"I think you should all sit down," Harry said in a monotone voice.

It was one hour later. Harry revealed the prophecy to his closest friends. They hadn't taken it all that well. The room had cleared out, and now, one friend came back into the room.

"So why didn't you tell us earlier?"

"It just didn't seem right," he answered.

"You don't have to go at this alone Harry," she said low to him.

"But I do, it's me isn't it, it's always me," he answered her statement.

'It could be us,' he heard her think.

"It could be us," she said out loud gathering her courage and actually saying it.

She lowered herself onto his bed, and lightly kissed his lips. Harry was in shock, but everything just seemed to fall into place. Everything clicked, it all felt right. He kissed her back, nicely, slowly.

They made out for a while, and then their teenaged hormones took over, their night was filled with passion, and lust. Harry and she lost their virginity to each other, and finally slept at three in the morning holding each other. Harry woke at around ten, a slow frown playing at his lips as he realized that he was alone.

* * *

Ok, the story has taken an abrupt turn since I last updated, hope nobody minds, but most is still intact. Feedback on the dueling would be greatly appreciated since later chapters will revolve around action. 

BferBear – You're probably right, so I turned it off, though I'd rather a signed review, it can be anonymous now. Thanks about the amp, I have a few surprise to go along with it.

MateoHarry – Thanks very much for the compliment. For now I'm going to be a bit tight lipped on ships, though I love H-Hr, this may or may not end up on that ship.

Thanks for reading!


	6. A New Way Home

Ok, I realize I'm a horrible horrible person for not keeping my update schedule, but as horrible as that is, I'm not horrible enough to be stealing anything from a talented JKR, just borrowing for fun )

* * *

Chapter 6: A New Way Home

The last few days at Number 12 passed in a blur. Harry was having a feeling that the first girl he ever slept with wanted this to be a one night thing since she hadn't mentioned anything since. Even through the mild depression of what that night may have cost him, he was still looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts. With Umbridge gone, the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor couldn't get any worse than her. This did bring a smile to the sixteen year old Harry's face.

Harry's new telepathic abilities were random at best. He tried learning to turn it off and on at his leisure but the new gift refused to comply with his wishes. While hearing some of the thoughts were amusing, some of the things his closest friend's thought of were disturbing.

Finally the day Harry had been waiting for arrived, it was time, he was going back home. He awoke and showered, throwing on some of his newer nicer muggle clothes he stared around the room. Scanning for anything he missed to pack a small pang of an emotion he was accustomed to around the Weasleys hit him as he realized he didn't have much to remember, or forget. A sad smile graced his face as he finally knew why it was so hectic at his favorite family's house when it was time to go to school. Releasing a sigh he levitated his trunk out of the room.

On the second floor Ginny and Ron were having a mad dash from room to room, up and down stairs to collect everything they needed. Hermione watched them disapprovingly since they hadn't completed this well in advance. Luna was already headed downstairs to prepare to leave, Neville watched on, laughing at everyone's morning tactics occasionally. Harry had the same idea watching his friends; he too smiled and laughed ever so often.

If Harry thought the second floor was bad, he was shocked when his feet hit the ground floor. Luna was patiently waiting as the adults in the house today scrambled in every direction to prepare for the journey. Harry saw Remus pass so he stopped him to get an answer to a new question he had.

"Remus, are we walking with a guard again?"

"No, you all will be going a different way this year."

"And how is that," Luna's airy voice asked.

"Um, well, you see,"

"Remus! We agreed its best no one knew!" Molly scolded the former professor.

"Yes, we agreed that it was best that no one knew in advance, now seems like the best time to explain everything." Remus replied.

"So how are we getting there?"

"Well, it'll be some portkeys then Dumbledore has something arranged at the end." Remus answered.

"I hate portkeys," Harry simply stated. Then looking in Lupin's eyes Harry saw a little shift, concentrating he caught part of a sentence he was running through his head.

'…they're actually using them…decoys…'

Harry put a half grin on his face then whispered for only Remus to hear, "Decoys?"

Finally everyone was ready to head back to Hogwarts. The six friends were split into three groups of two. Ron and Ginny would travel with Molly and Arthur. Neville and Luna would be accompanied by Mad Eye Moody and Kingsly Shacklebolt. Finally Hermione and Harry would travel with Remus Lupin and Tonks. Each set of four were huddled into a circle, each one with a finger on some unassuming object. Harry reached out to touch an empty cigarette pack; Hermione wrinkled her nose but did the same. Lupin smiled at her reaction then called,

"Its time!"

All twelve disappeared to different locations.

Hermione landed in a heap on the stone floor.

"I hate bloody portkeys," she stated

"Me too, where are we?" asked Harry

"No time," answered Remus, "we have to find the next one."

"NEXT ONE?" Harry and Hermione exclaimed as one.

Harry looked around; it looked like they were in a backroom of some store.

"Found it!" Tonks exclaimed before Harry had taken in all of his surroundings. She held out an old issue of the Quibbler (the one with Harry's exclusive interview) so he put his hand over his face. Hermione was next to rush over, then when Lupin touched the magazine they were off again with the feeling of a hook behind the navel.

On their second landing Harry and Hermione landed in a heap. Tonks looked unbalanced but still stood.

"You say another portkey and I'll hex you Moony," Harry threatened.

"Then I won't say it," Remus smiled mischeviously.

Giving a deep sigh Harry started to look around. Tonks started to laugh.

"What?" Harry asked in irritation.

"We're not taking another portkey this time."

"Oh…"

Harry looked around; this place seemed so familiar to him. It was a park, a very normal looking park. A too normal looking park.

"Why in the hell are we on Privet Drive?" Harry asked anger resonating in his question.

"Shh…." Remus shushed him, "we have to floo from here. Mrs. Figg's house alright."

"Sorry, just assumed the worst," Harry mumbled to himself.

The four started a pace that wasn't a run, but not really a walk either. Harry was fine with his conditioning over the summer, Tonks wasn't complaining either.

"Could you two slow down?" Hermione asked clutching her side.

Harry turned around and started jogging backwards, "come on Hermy, its not that bad."

Harry's backwards jog came at a price when the curb appeared behind him, and magic had nothing to do with it.

"HMMPHH," Harry landed in a sitting position, the air escaping his lungs.

Between laughs Remus managed, "Any escort mission is worth it to see 'The Boy-Who-Lived fall on his ass!"

Tonks seemed to be thinking along the same lines as she started her own laughing. Hermione looked like she would start up too, if she hadn't been breathing so hard.

Harry got up, his face a crimson to put any Weasley hair to shame.

"Alright, let's just get there," Harry mumbled out of embarrassment.

Mrs. Figg greeted them at the door.

"Come in, come in, time is wasting," she shoved them through.

Tonks walked straight to the fire and pulled out a pouch of Floo powder. She grabbed a handful and threw it into the flames. Red, orange, and yellow turned to green, black, and white. She handed the pouch off to Remus. She stepped in and spoke,

"The Leaky Cauldron," and she was gone.

"Did I mention I hate the Floo too?" Harry asked no one in particular.

"Come now, time is running short." Remus said giving Harry the bag.

He grabbed a handful and passed it to Hermione; he too threw the Floo powder into the fire, stepped in and made sure he spoke very clearly.

"The Leaky Cauldron," and he was gone. Spinning like a top above the house now everything was a blur of color and sound. Suddenly he was spit out of the fire place of a tavern that separated magic from muggle.

He quickly rose to try and dust off his robes when Tonks grabbed him out of the way. Then Hermione landed in a thud right where Harry was a second ago.

"We really need to teach you two the finer points of a wizard's life," Tonks said holding in a giggle.

Remus was next, but instead of flying out of the fire at some breakneck speed, he calmly stepped out. He could only smile at the grimaces on Harry and Hermione's faces.

"OK, another Floo I'm afraid," Remus smiled again, "this time from your favorite twins."

They all left the pub, Tonks already tapped the bricks to reveal Diagon Alley, and so the journey proceeded. While they walked along the cobblestone road, Harry started to feel a prickle on the back of his neck, like he was being watched. Subconsciously he tightened a strap that held his amp to his palm.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a black cloak flutter by the entrance of Knockturn Alley. "Remus, we may have problems," Harry warned.

"As expected," Remus replied, and then gave Harry his instructions, "you and Hermione have to make it to Number 93, and Floo to 'The Ministry of Magic – Reception', Arthur should be waiting for you."

"But…."

"No buts!" Remus exclaimed and pushed the two teens on their way.

Harry and Hermione went off in a dead run, they could hear spells being cast behind them. They never turned to see how they faired.

Upon seeing Fred and George's shop the two also noticed Fred and George, hanging out the windows of the second floor firing curses at the Death Eaters preoccupying Remus and Tonks. Without hesitation Harry and Hermione burst into the store, the scanned the area and set off in another run to the very back where a fire was burning. Grabbing some Floo powder from the pot on the mantle Hermione was the first off. Harry then grabbed his own handful and threw it into the flames. He hurried in and when he turned around a Death Eater was approaching with his wand drawn.

Quickly he shouted fast but clear, "Ministry of Magic – Reception!"

Before the spinning started he heard a _Stupify_ being cast. He didn't have time to think about it though as he then did start to spin, faster and faster, trying with all his might not to lose his breakfast, until he finally landed in another heap on the floor of the Ministry of Magic.

He bounced up to his feet, fully in attack mode, not only because of the Death Eaters in Diagon Alley, but also because this place didn't hold any fond memories for him. He took in the area; everyone was here except for his two escorts. Every worst possible scenario started to play in his mind when two pops sounded beside him and Lupin and Tonks arrived slightly out of breath.

"Death Eaters in the Alley, the ones we saw are gagged and bound," Tonks updated them.

Kingsley nodded his head and pulled out a piece of parchment. Quickly he wrote a note and charmed the paper. It folded itself up and flew off to its destination.

"We'll have Aurors there soon," he answered Hermione's questioning gaze.

Arthur then pulled out what looked like a muggle rope with a lasso tied into it, "Everyone needs to be touching it."

"Again? This better be the last one!" exclaimed Ron to his father. Arthur only smiled at him.

Everyone there grabbed an empty piece of rope and with another tug behind the navel was off again.

Upon landing this time everyone's knees buckled. The pile with human body parts sticking out at odds and ends truly must have looked humorous, and someone was having a hard time restraining their laugh. Harry looked up to find the Headmaster of Hogwarts quite amused.

"Glad you think its funny," Harry answered the glare, growing irritated by all of the wizarding travel that he hated to use.

"But you all are right on time Harry; it's the little things that work out in life that makes it so worth living."

Harry couldn't help but to smile at the Headmaster.

"Right on time for what sir?" asked Hermione. Ron nodded to agree with the question.

Pulling out his pocket watch he smiled and answered, "Your prefects meeting will begin shortly."

Hermione's face fell, "But how can we get there? The train is already on its way here and you can't portkey onto a moving object can you Professor?"

"No, you can not portkey onto a moving object Miss Granger."

"I didn't think the Express had a fireplace," chimed in Ron trying to help solve the problem of getting onto the train.

"Moving trains can't be connected to the Floo network Ron," Hermione said matter-of-factly not noticing his ears turning a bit pink.

Dumbledore chuckled and said, "Correct again, if school were in progress I think you would have earned some points by now."

This time Hermione's cheeks turned a bit pink.

"Now, onto the current dilemma, please, students join hands."

They all did and stayed in the line they were already in, Harry was at the end closest to Dumbledore. He turned to look at something and Harry smiled as Fawkes flew toward him. As the phoenix neared Harry grabbed his tail feathers and with a burst of flame the six students were gone.

Another burst of flame and all six students were in a compartment of the Hogwarts Express. Harry let go of his favorite phoenix and has soon as he did Fawkes was gone in another burst of flame.

Harry sat down besides the window with a grin on his face; Luna was beside him and also sat. Neville took his seat opposite Harry, while Ron, Hermione, and Ginny rushed off to the prefect's car.

"I didn't know Ginny made prefect," Harry said looking dumbly at the door.

"Yes, her mother bought her some new dress robes while in Diagon Alley to celebrate the event," Luna answered pulling out the current issue of the Quibbler.

"She's really excited, though she wouldn't let me say anything to Fred and George, I wonder why," Neville wondered also remember the trip.

"Fred and George wouldn't have let her live it down," laughed Harry. Then his face reverted to certain sadness, "I never even asked if she got it. What a prat I am."

"Yes, you are sometimes," Luna said in her airy voice like it was just plain as day.

"I didn't even ask Hermione about her O.W.L.s," he started again, "or if Ron got Quidditch captain."

"Don't beat yourself up Harry," Neville began, "we know you've had enough on your mind."

Harry nodded but then just stared out of his window into the passing landscape.

After the two youngest Weasley children along with the smartest student currently enrolled at Hogwarts returned Harry tried to catch up with anything not focused on defeating Voldemort, Ginny smiled at her congratulations on making prefect, Hermione beamed when she informed Harry that she did receive all Os on her O.W.L.s, and Ron almost split his face into two when he showed Harry his Quidditch captain badge. Soon enough lunch arrived with the trolley and Harry treated everyone. While finally relaxing after a couple of games of chess with Ron Harry sank into his seat happy with his defeat.

"Harry?" Luna asked his name to see if he was awake.

"Yes?" he asked opening his eyes to meet her gaze.

"I just wanted…" but her sentence was broken when the door to their compartment was opened.

"I swear Potter sinks lower every year," Malfoy's dull drawl echoed into the room. Crabbe and Goyle laughed at command flanking their leader.

Ron lazily stood up, and to many surprises Neville also rose.

"Sod off Malfoy, every year the same thing, its getting old," Harry said from his seat.

"Yes, it is old, every year I have warned you, this year will be different scarhead, you can count on that."

"What's different about this year?" Ginny asked, but before she let him answer she continued, "other than your precious daddy rotting away in prison?"

Malfoy's eyes narrowed a bit, his hand twitched to his pocket, "Don't talk to me weasel, I'm already plagued by breathing the same air as the mudblood."

Suddenly Malfoy was thrown back with such force he knocked down Crabbe and Goyle, the compartment door slid shut too, locking itself.

Hermione turned to give Harry a piece of her mind to only find he was looking at Luna with his jaw hanging open. Upon reverting her eyes she saw Luna holding her wand pointed at the door, certain steel in her normally vacant expression.

"Don't bother Hermione, I've wanted to do that for ages," Luna said in her same dreamy voice.

The rest of the ride was uneventful. Ginny, Hermione, and Ron would go on rounds every so often. Many members of the D.A. dropped in to not only thank Harry for their scores on their defense tests, but to also ask if they were going to continue. Harry had assured them all that not only would they continue, it would be better this year. The train finally pulled into Hogsmeade, the sextuplet greeted Hagrid on their way to the carriages. Luna, Neville, and Harry each took a hard look at the thestrals, but none of them commented. The ride mostly remained silent, but Harry looked out to see the castle looming into view. While it wasn't as strong as it had been in previous years, he still felt like he was finally home.

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rahl - sorry for that cliffie, and for not updating, and one more apology, cos I'm not sure when you'll find out who the girl is. Yeah, my evil streak is coming to me, on a lighter note, I do hope to start updating more often. 


	7. A Sorting of Sorts

WOW, I actually made my deadline! By the way, I own very little in this story, but the OCs, and the Amps are mine. The rest belong to the one and only JKR, and whoever bought the rights to such things : )

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Chapter 7: A Sorting of Sorts

After filing into the great hall the students all made their way to each of their tables. Luna went off to her Ravenclaw housemates, a frown playing at her lips. The rest of her friends headed for the Gryffindor table.

"Who do you thing the new defense teacher will be?" Hermione asked.

Harry scanned the head table also wanting an answer to the question. The only new person sitting at the table shouldn't have been. It couldn't be, even Dumbledore isn't this insane. Harry aghast looked to Hermione as she was scanning the table too. The pure shock that entered her eyes confirmed Harry's suspicions, Dumbledore had lost it.

Ron seeing the distress of his two best friends looked up too. Landing on their newest professor his head turned to his friends.

"What does Dumbledore think he's playing at?" he asked still in a mild shock.

"I'm not sure," answered Harry, "but this can't be good."

Before anymore conversation could commence Professor McGonagall entered the all with a line of first years trailing behind her. They lined up in front of her, each looking scared and nervous, each eyeing the three legged stool with an old hat upon it suspiciously. When the hat animated itself and started to sing the newest students to the school all gasped.

_I gave my warning and it fell on deaf ears_

_Now I'm here to sort again the first years_

_But I did think in the face of war_

_I could unite the houses split by four_

_But you did not listen to me then_

_So now I'll let my own sorting begin_

_For once a year I'm taken off the shelf_

_And this year I think I'll just help myself_

_Instead of dividing you few and far between_

_I'll only sort you, if you are a teen_

_Younger than that and I'll refuse to call_

_For its time you learn, that divided, you fall_

Instead of clapping, pure, unrefined silence filled the air. Dumbledore's small cough to get the attention of Professor McGonagall almost sounded like a cannon firing.

"Um…Yes…" she tried to regain her composure, "This year we have a couple of new older students who will be joining the sixth years. When I call your names, please come sit on the stool and put on the hat."

"New sixth years?" Harry asked Hermione; nothing like this had happened that he knew about.

"They must be transfers, though usually it never happens, whoever they are their parents must have pulled some strings," she answered.

"Great," moaned Ron "sounds like Slytherins to me."

Their musings were cut short though by McGonagall calling "Haszel, Jenks"

A sixteen year old male of medium height with dirty blonde hair strode to the front. He was broad and looked somewhat intimidating. But his composure was nothing compared to his eyes, they started yellow but faded to green, and then a circle of blue surrounded them. When he stared at you, you almost felt pierced. With an air of confidence he sat on the stool.

He put the sorting hat on, instead of falling over his eyes it sat their like it was made for him. The hat again came to life, and the tear at the bottom almost formed a smile. Soon enough it called, "Gryffindor!"

Clapping ensued from the table as his new house cheered for their new arrival. He sat a couple of places down from Harry and friends, but he did give them a warm smile.

"Haszel, Sira," McGonagall called the next name.

A very pretty sixteen year old girl with strawberry blonde hair performed the same stride to the stool. It was obvious they were siblings, twins even. Though her eyes were opposite from her brothers, they started green and faded to yellow, but she too had the same blue ring. Instead of intimidation, you were compelled to complete trust while staring into those orbs. Again the hat sat on her head like it was tailored just for her.

The tear took on the same gash of a smile before shouting "Gryffindor!"

The same polite clapping and cheering erupted from the table, she joined her brother, but she gave Harry and friends another warm smile.

Professor McGonagall tried to continue the sorting with the first years though by calling the first of them.

"Ambry, Todd!"

The frightened first year tried to run up to the stool, but in his excitement he tripped on his robes and landed with a thud. The Slytherins all laughed while the Gryffindors shot them all daggers with their eyes to shut up. Harry smiled when he saw his two newest house mates also looking murderous. The kid did manage to get to the stool though. The hat sank low resting on the brim of his nose, and then, nothing.

For fifteen minutes the hall sat in silence as the hat seemed to be content by just being a hat. Finally Dumbledore rose.

"It seems that our resident sorting hat was serious, I'll come up with something but until then," he waved his wand and another table spawned into existence, "will the first years please sit there. I do welcome you all to another year at Hogwarts; I'll save any announcements till after the feast. Till then I just have this to say, Blubberfoot."

And with his odd choice of ending his welcoming each table had food appear ready for the students.

"Well Harry," Ron started in while piling his golden plate full of food until it almost overflowed, "it looks like your wish for a normal year isn't going very well."

Harry snorted, "Yeah, like I really thought that wish could ever come true, it was nice to imagine though."

Ginny laughed, "So why are you all so shocked at the new DADA professor?"

Hermione grimly answered, "He's a death eater."

"WHAT!" Ginny exclaimed at the top of her lungs, and not for the first time that evening the hall fell silent.

Professor McGonagall strode to the Gryffindor table, "What is the meaning of your shouting Miss Weasley?"

"Sorry Professor," Ginny muttered with her head downcast, her cheeks matching her hair.

"She just had a bit of a shock," Hermione provided glancing at the head table.

Professor McGonagall followed her gaze, her lips thinned considerably before replying, "I see, I take it you can control your outbursts without a silencing charm then?" She then returned to her chair without waiting for an answer.

Slowly conversations started to grow again until the hall was the low roar it usually was accustomed to. Ginny still highly embarrassed asked more calmly, "What do you mean he's a death eater?"

"At least he used to be," Harry started but was interrupted by one of the new students.

"Hi, I'm Jenks, this is my sister Sira, we were wondering if we could join you?"

Ron and Harry shared a look that clearly meant each had their reservations, Ginny didn't look too happy about the new arrivals either, but Hermione was the first to answer, "We'd love for you to join us."

"Thanks," the sister answered as both took seats to join in.

"So where are you from, I haven't heard that accent before," Ron asked.

"America, Texas, though we don't really have the Texan accent," Jenks answered.

"And why are you in England?" Asked Ginny, still put off from having to hold her previous conversation.

"Our mom moved back here to take care of our grandmother," Sira answered.

Hermione glared daggers at her friends, "This is Ron and Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter, and I'm Hermione Granger by the way."

Jenks nodded as each person was introduced, and smiled pleasantly at Hermione. Small pleasantries were exchanged as dinner ended and dessert began. Harry sat mostly to himself. After dessert Dumbledore again rose and the great hall fell quiet.

"Now after we have been fed and watered I have a few announcements to make. The Forbidden Forest is as forbidden as it has ever been," he took a moment to glare at Harry, Hermione, and Ron as they shared a mischievous grin, "and Mr. Filch has taken the time to update his list of forbidden items. Topping said list this year is Weasley Whiz-Bangs and portable swamps." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled merrily as he continued, "Also I would like you all to welcome yet another new defense against the dark arts instructor. Professor Igor Karkaroff, the former headmaster of Durmstrang, has agreed to try his luck for the year, and hopes he may finally prove that the position is not cursed."

Even through his attempt at humor only a few of the younger students chuckled. For the most part the Gryffindor table stared at the newest teacher like he was something foul. The Slytherin table looked as if it was something offensive standing before them, some looked out right murderous. The Hufflepuff table was not amused, mainly out of loyalty to Hogwarts as they remembered the Tri-Wizard tournament, but remembering that event a couple years ago opened some old wounds. One student yelled "Remember Cedric" to seal how the whole table felt. Only the Ravenclaws clapped politely.

Harry scanned the people around Karkaroff, Professor McGonagall seemed torn, and Snape looked to be somewhere between amused and offended. Harry remembered some of the interactions between the two professors in his fourth year, it would be interesting to see how the reacted now. The rest of the professors were smiling and clapping politely.

Jenks had the bad timing to ask, "Who's Cedric?" before Dumbledore had a chance to continue or finish. Harry felt ill at all the memories boiling to the surface. He stood, took a hard glance at Dumbledore, and left the hall and its new many whispers.

Outside the hall he took to a sprint, through many shortcuts and avoiding all the trick stairs and one particular poltergeist he made it to Gryffindor Tower in record time. He looked at the fat lady that guarded the room he wanted to get to.

"Password?"

"Bloody hell," Harry said not knowing the password.

"I'm sorry, that is _not_ the password," she grimaced at him.

"I don't know the new password; can't you just let me in? You know me," Harry pleaded but knew it was no good as she shook her head at him disappointedly.

"I'm afraid not dear; you'll have to wait for someone to let you in like that Longbottom boy has on many occasions," she said with a hint of pity in her tone. Luckily for Harry a prefect showed up soon enough.

"Acerbus Solus" Ginny said and the portrait swung open.

Harry grinned at her before saying, "Poor Neville, who comes up with the passwords anyway?"

As they stepped in Ginny grinned too before answering, "The sixth and seventh year prefects. You can thank Hermione for this one."

"I'll be sure to let Neville know who to hex," he said.

She cautioned, but asked anyway, "So are you all right?"

"Yeah, it was just too crowded," He answered trying to let her know he didn't want to talk about it.

"I know what you mean," she said trying to let him know she would drop it, but was there for him if he needed it.

Harry smiled, used to his two best friends pushing him to open up more; he liked Ginny's approach much better. He asked, "So did I miss anything?"

"Only thing said after you left was about Quidditch tryouts and Hogsmeade weekends. There is no schedule for going this year; Dumbledore said it would be announced only the morning before we could go."

"That makes sense, though I'm not sure it will help that much. Even if a student could only leak the information that morning, it wouldn't take that long to mount an attack for the same afternoon." Harry said this, all the while with the thousand yard stare of someone thinking and not taking in their surroundings. Ginny frowned at how serious his mood had shifted.

Soon more Gryffindors began to arrive. Hermione, Ron, and Neville sat with Ginny and Harry for a little more discussion before bed. While a Quidditch talk began Hermione whispered to Harry about an observation she made.

"Did you notice that the Slytherin table was a little emptier than we're used to?" she asked.

"I noticed. Do you think it means what I think it means?" he asked back.

"I don't want to believe that students our age could become death eaters," she said with sadness in her voice.

"Malfoy?" Harry asked, knowing the path he knew he was on.

"Well, not at least till after school. Some of the ones missing were fourth year Harry."

Neville who wasn't actually included in the discussion, but not really excluded either decided to join in, "Hermione, members of the DA were younger than fourth year."

"But the DA didn't have an initiation, nor was it _really_ an army. We weren't planning any battles." She replied.

"Initiation?" Harry asked her to clarify.

Her eyes went a little dark as she answered, "I found it in the Black Library. They have to first cast an Imperius on another death eater to prove they have mastered it. They then have to hold the Cruciatus on a wizard for five minutes," Neville's face grimed as she continued, "and then they have to perform the Avada Kedavra on two muggles before they can bear the dark mark."

Harry was stunned. Not that Voldemort would think of some sick ritual involving all three unforgivables to sort out who could serve him, but shocked that Dumbledore had two professors on his staff that both had the skull and snake charred into the flesh of their forearm. Harry's eyes again went a little unfocused as he thought out loud,

"The Dark Mark comes with a promise and a price, whatever you want, for your soul."

Hermione and Neville shuddered at the ice that had taken over Harry's voice. He took no notice as he smiled at his friends and said, "It's been a long day, I'm going to bed."

They each said their goodnights to him as he headed for the stairs that lead to his dorm. Before he could go though, a voice called his name making him stop.

"Harry?" Harry turned to the person, it was Jenks, "Could you show me where we sleep?"

"Sure," was all he could say to the relative stranger as he turned back and started up the steps. He reached the door that read 'Sixth Years' and entered. He pointed to the new bed and told Jenks it was for him.

"Thanks," they new guy said as he went to his bed on the right of the room and started unpacking his trunk.

Harry felt worn for the day; he decided to unpack tomorrow, after a nice sleep. He lay back in the warm sheets, happy to just finally be home. Before he drifted off to a peaceful slumber, a small twinge went through his scar, ignoring the slight pain he fell into a sleep that held a vision he soon wouldn't forget.

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Thanks to Bobboky for the review. Dunno why but I love it when other authors review with kind words. 


	8. A Very Long Week Part 1 Monday

This is the bit where I tell you that I don't own much. If you never heard of it, or the person, it is probably mine.

A small note, this was supposed to be the first week, when I finished with Monday I realized it was just under five thousand words. Therefore I'm breaking it up into parts, then when its finished I'll replace the chapter into one massive one.

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Chapter 8: A Very Long Week

It was four in the morning, classes began in four hours, breakfast in three, everyone in the castle was probably sound asleep, and Harry was in the sixth years bathroom vomiting. His scar was blazing; threatening to open up, the pain seemed to split his head into two. He retched again, but nothing more would come up. He closed his eyes. The vision he had repeated itself like an old movie projector on the back of his eyelids.

_"Wormtail, bring the beast," Harry's mouth said in an icy silk voice._

_Wormtail opened the door and kicked in a dazed Remus Lupin._

_"Ah…and there it is," Harry laughed maniacally._

_Remus looked up into Harry's eyes defiantly, "I'll never talk."_

_"I didn't ask you too," Harry laughed again, "Bella told me a tale."_

_Lupin flinched, just a little, just enough for Harry to notice._

_"Yes werewolf, it seems you were the one to grab young Potter from joining his godfather. How sweet. You seem to have a bond with him. So, for preventing his death, and just because I can, you will be tortured until you beg for death. Then you will see how generous Lord Voldemort is." Harry hissed. Then unable to control his hand it rose. The wand pointed at the last of the marauders. His stomach churned as he spoke the spell._

_"Crucio!"_

_The amber light struck Lupin, the fear and hate in Harry was momentarily forgotten as he stared into the pain and anguish reflected in the werewolf's eyes. His screams rang in his ears as he woke with a start._

Harry opened his eyes and struggled to his feet. He had to talk to Dumbledore, even if class had to wait.

After haphazardly dressing Harry took off in a dead sprint to get to the headmaster's office. He slid around the last corner and almost fell when he reached the gargoyle that guarded the entrance. He did not look amused at not knowing the password.

"Can't you just open?" he asked harshly. If the gargoyle would speak it would seem the answer would be no.

"Fine, acid pop, cauldron cake, ice mice, AH, JUST OPEN!"

But the gargoyle didn't move, and Harry nearly cursed it in frustration. Then something happened that young Harry never expected.

'Even I can't believe the wise one has gone far enough to use a non-magical temptation. Lemonheads, what a password, in all my years…' the voice thought. It was gruff, almost hollow, and it almost made Harry shiver.

"Lemonheads," Harry said out of desperation. And to his surprise the gargoyle leapt aside to allow entrance.

He raced up the spiral staircase and almost hurt his hand in his haste as he slammed his fist into the door.

"Come in," the headmaster rang out.

Harry rushed in. "What can I do for you this early in the morning Harry?"

"I need you to contact Remus."

If Albus Dumbledore thought that this request was odd, he didn't show it. Without hesitation he opened a drawer and brought out a mirror. A lump rose in Harry's throat as the headmaster called into the mirror, "Remus Lupin!"

Harry's tension immediately left, and he seemed to deflate as he sighed in his relief as he heard faintly, "Yes Albus?"

"Harry is here, he wanted me to contact you, do you wish to speak to him?"

Harry didn't know if the question was directed to him or Lupin but he reached for the mirror anyway.

In the mirror, instead of seeing his reflection he saw Lupin's face, worry sketched into his eyes.

"Is something wrong Harry?"

"No, not now," he continued after seeing the confusion in the eyes of the man he could call friend, "Voldemort is playing with my dreams again."

Realization passed Lupin's face. Then an awkward silence filled the room.

"If that is all, you may have things to prepare for?" Dumbledore gently said to Harry. Harry just nodded as he handed the mirror back to Dumbledore. "I'll see you for Occlumency then." Harry nodded again as he left the office. He didn't know why, but he felt ashamed. He also felt a rising anger, as he could hear an echo of Voldemort laughing in his head.

Harry rushed back to his room. He felt like he needed a shower, and after looking at how he dressed, he knew he definitely needed to rethink his clothes. After a shower and redressing Harry noticed he still had another hour until breakfast began. Wearily he headed down to the common room.

To his surprise Hermione was already at a table reading a book. Laughing inwardly he fell into a chair across from her.

"What are you reading?"

"Our transfiguration textbook," she replied curtly.

"Anything interesting for the year?" he asked.

She finally looked up at him, "it depends."

"And what does it depend on?"

"Well, according to me, the entire year will be fascinating. Seeing as we are not transfiguring anything into Quidditch equipment, you and Ron may not be as interested."

Harry just grinned in reply, and she likewise grinned, then she returned to her book. Inaudibly sighing Harry rose and went to the window. He rested his head on the pane of glass and just stared for a while. The sun had just risen and the lake was shimmering in the new day. Bordering its shore was the forbidden forest, Harry stared as a flock of birds flew from somewhere in the dark woods. Perhaps Grawp is restless again. A boney reptilian horse like creature rose from the tree line, only to plunge back down below. The thestrals of Hogwarts were back in the forest. Harry glanced closer to the castle to notice Hagrid pulling a creature he had never seen before by rope towards the border of the forest.

Harry had to do a double take. He actually _had_ seen this animal before, just not that big. Definitely not that color either. It was a bronze color, its tail was merrily wagging like it was enjoying this game of tug-o-war with the half giant, its mane shimmered in the breaking daylight, it was a lion.

"Oh hell," Harry muttered to himself, but it must have been loud enough for Hermione to hear.

"What?"

"Come look," Harry gestured with his hand but didn't take his eyes off the massive lion.

Closing her textbook Hermione too looked out the window, all she managed was, "Oh…"

Then Ron joined them from behind, "What are you two looking at?" But being a head taller than his two best friends he saw clearly what they were looking at, "Bloody hell, I hope that's for the seventh years."

Harry gave a snort of laughter, "When has our luck managed anything like that?"

"Regrettably I won't be able to join you two for Care of Magical Creatures," Hermione said, a mischievous grin playing at her lips.

"Why not?" asked Harry.

"Couldn't manage the schedule, and I'm _not_ going to have anything to do with another time-turner as long as I can manage it."

"Oh," Harry and Ron answered at the same time, displeasure dripping off both of their voices.

"Anyway, time for breakfast," she said. She was uncomfortable under their crestfallen gazes, and the mention of breakfast at least brought Ron back to attention. They headed to the great hall ready to begin their first week back.

Over one hundred owls flew in through the upper enchanted windows of the great hall. Harry smiled as the first years who sat at their own fifth table all gasped. He looked up just to marvel at the sight, he did know better than to expect any mail. To his surprise his snowy owl Hedwig flew down in front of him with a package tied to her leg. Hesitantly he untied it, and then fed her a couple of strips of bacon before she made her way back to the owlery to get some rest. Opening the small package he caught sight of his own reflection and a letter.

_Hey,_

_This is a mirror from the gang. I know you didn't join them but I think you should get it anyway. If you don't know how to work it just ask the old man._

_Good luck with the year,_

_Moony_

Giving a small laugh at his friend's use of secrecy he pocketed the mirror. Hermione gave him a curious glance only to receive a "We'll talk later" look. She gave him a slight nod and returned to her meal.

Professor McGonagall then reached the trio to hand out their timetables for the year. Harry almost groaned when he saw his first lesson.

"Well, guess we'll see if that lion was for us or not," Ron commented dryly.

"Hermione, what's your first class?" Harry asked.

"Arithmancy, then Herbology, Healing and finally Ancient Runes," she answered with a smile.

"Ugh, you're taking healing?" Ron asked with a grimace.

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" She asked back.

"You have to deal with all those people being sick and all. Madam Pomfrey let's her students take care of all the gross stuff." Ron answered her.

"Oh hell," Harry said. "I thought this would be like self-healing stuff."

"You took it too?" Ron asked incredulously.

"Yeah, with as much as I'm hurt I thought it would come in handy." Harry said with a little sadness in his voice.

"Well what are you taking for an elective Ron?" Hermione inquired.

"I actually have it when you two will be out healing," he said healing like something foul in his mouth, "I'll be in Stickles!" He finished triumphantly.

"I was going to ask what stickles was, I laughed when I read that," Harry commented.

Ron meanwhile looked like he had been slapped in the face. Then in a slow voice, as if speaking to a child, he said, "Harry, Stickles is broomstick design. I'm not sure where the name comes from, but there ya go."

Now it was Harry's turn to look like he had been slapped. "You mean I could have designed broomsticks instead of learning how to heal?"

"Honestly Harry, at least you'll be learning something _useful_ in Healing." Hermione tried to cheer Harry up.

"Broomstick design is useful," Ron defended his class, "what if Harry wants to do it for a living one day?"

"Harry wants to be an Auror," Hermione replied, "and Healing will go a lot farther than designing broomsticks in that career."

Harry just sat in silence, not knowing whether or not to tell his friends now or later that he no longer wished to become an Auror. Later would have to do because their first class began in ten minutes, and Ron and Harry still had to go back to Gryffindor Tower to get their books.

After a hasty retreat, two secret passageways, and a sprint across the grounds, Harry and Ron arrived right on time.

"Alright gather round gather round." Hagrid boomed to the ten people in attendance. Harry glanced around to see two more Gryffindors, three Hufflepuffs and three Ravenclaws. All were mixed ages.

"N.E.W.T. level Care of Magical Creatures is just one year. And since so few of you are taking it, you'll all be in one class. Now, I have something special for you today. I want you all to meet Missy." With that last sentence Hagrid pulled on a rope that had been tethered to a nearby tree. And with the rope, the enormous lion came forward. She gazed at the students then let out a fearsome roar.

"Now, who can tell me what Missy here is?" Hagrid asked the stunned class.

A lone Ravenclaw raised his hand, "A Nemean Lion."

"Take five points Mr. Davies. And what makes the Nemean Lion special?"

This time a Hufflepuff raised her hand, "Their skin can not be harmed by weapons, but spells pass through it completely."

"Right, and five points to you." Hagrid replied. "Now partner up, I want two rolls on the uses and properties of the Nemean Lion."

On their way to Herbology Ron and Harry were in a deep discussion concerning their professor and friend Hagrid and his capability.

"Bloody mental that one, between dragons, Blast-Ended Skrewts, Thestrals, and Lions that make that three headed dog Fluffy look cute, I think he's gone off the bend."

"You know Ron, you might be right, but then again the skin of the lion being able to stop most all physical harm could be useful." Harry answered his friend amused.

"Yeah, just add a dragon skin jacket to deflect most magic attacks and you're in business, though it'll put an extra thirty pounds on you, overheat you, then there's the whole mobility issue."

Harry gave a small chuckle as they headed to greenhouse seven, where they had lessons today.

Upon entering Harry noted Neville was in a deep conversation with short Professor Sprout. Hermione had already secured a table for the four of them.

"Today we will be trimming Tramic Root. Can anyone tell me the properties of this plant?" Their professor began her lesson once Neville joined Gryffindor's most notable trio. Both Neville and Hermione raised their hands.

"Yes Miss Granger," she called on the girl.

"Tramic Root is a plant localized in Mexico of North America. It thrives in the heat and sun. It is mainly used in potions that strengthens and focuses the mind," Hermione replied.

"Correct, take five points for Gryffindor," Professor Sprout replied to the beaming girl.

"I think Hermione laces her pumpkin juice with it," Ron whispered to Harry who chuckled at his friend but ceased immediately under Hermione's glare.

"Now, does anyone else know anything more about the plant?"

Now only Neville's hand was in the air.

"Mr. Longbottom," she called.

"Once a year in fall under a new moon the plant secretes a sap that is among the most poisonous in the world, a single drop diluted in water is enough to kill a hundred people. The poison is also used in Marcol cigarettes to help people with Shanker's disease. Also the Tramic Root is known as Dragon's Tooth for these magical properties, as well its shape." Harry and Ron gaped at Neville, Hermione though a little jealous, was looking at the boy with pride.

"Excellent, take ten points Mr. Longbottom," Professor Sprout beamed at him. "Now, each table as a plant, I want you all to begin transferring it into the larger pots that have been provided. Use your dragon skin gloves just in case there is any poisonous residue still present from its last secretion."

Harry finally took a look at the plant, and it did look like a dragon's tooth, only green. The four students began working on their task, Hermione and Neville in deep conversation about the plant at hand, while Harry and Ron just joked about little things.

Lunch arrived and the four sixth year friends sat with the two new transfer students.

"So what classes do you have, we didn't see you in ours" Ron said, without needing to.

"We were in Arthimancy with Hermione," Sira answered.

"But we were in Creotiology with only three other people. From raven's claw I think they said," Jenks added filling in the missing gap.

"You two are in Creotiology? I was going to take it but I wasn't sure if I could manage the schedule," Hermione said in one breath, a sign she was excited. She also gave a sad glance at Harry and Ron.

The glance was enough to let Harry know it was also another class she wouldn't have had with them. He knew it wasn't on his list of electives, and from the blank expression on Ron's face, he didn't know what it was either.

"You know Hermione, you shouldn't let us old you back," Harry said lowly trying to not be overheard.

She startled, looked confused then concerned, and then replied, "It wasn't really that, Creotiology requires a lot of creativity and imagination, I really don't think I would have done well in it." She finished a sort of sadness in her eyes.

"What exactly is Creotiology?" Ron asked a little pointedly.

"A class required to be a Creotian" Jenks replied with a smile earning a glare from Ron.

"Its spell creation," Sira finally gave the concrete answer, "that's what we want to do after school."

"Oh," Harry replied, a pensive look crossing his face, "there's actually a job market for that?"

"Of coarse there is," Hermione answered, "the Ministry hire's Creotians every year, plus some people put out contracts for specific spells to be crafted for them. They are also hired to modify existing spells for personal needs."

"You can modify spells?" Harry asked, cursing the fact that he still didn't know everything of the Wizarding world.

"Yeah,' Sira responded, "the _Avada__ Kedavra_ spell was a modification of the _Ava__ Kedavrana_ that was once a healing spell."

"_Stupefy_ came from _Stupifinio_, which would cause the brain to swell, eventually causing brain damage or death." Jenks added. Then glancing at his wristwatch he looked at his sister and said, "We better go, we have Stickles in fifteen minutes and we have to find Miss Hooch's office."

"I'll show you, I have that next too. Have fun in Healing," Ron smirked at his two closest friends.

"You know, it only makes to sense to have a class here," Harry said looking around the now familiar hospital wing, "I'm here enough, might as well learn something while I'm here."

Hermione smiled at him, they were the first to arrive. Soon they were joined by Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott, Padma Patil, and other girls from their year that Harry didn't recognize. Though he did frown when Blaise Zambini entered the room, remembering Diagon Alley and the boy's wand pointed in his direction.

"He looks like a girl," Hermione laughed into his ear.

"Like a Japanese anime," Harry replied. Coming from the Muggle world, Hermione knew what he was talking about.

Last to enter the room was Neville, looking slightly out of breath from the jog to make it on time.

"Geez Longbottom, maybe if you did more than wank off you'd be in better shape." Blaise taunted the now red-faced Neville.

"Twenty points from Slytherin," Madam Pomfrey said as she entered the room from her office. "I expect professionalism from this class. And if you can not provide it, you will be asked to leave. Today we will be learning how to clean and heal minor cuts, in order to do this you will also need to know a minor cutting spell. Please partner up."

Everyone started to get into groups of two. Neville was immediately approached by Susan Bones; Harry gave a sigh of relief that his friend was the last to be approached. Hermione and Harry just stood still has everyone milled around them to form their partnerships. Harry smirked as Blaise looked a little lost at being the odd man out. Hannah also didn't have a partner, so finally she approached him so Madam Pomfrey didn't have to single them out on not being professional. Blaise scowled as the girl introduced herself.

The next thirty minutes was a continuous amount of pain from the cuts, then numbness from a charm, a slight stinging from the disinfectant spell, and finally relief from the sealing spell. Blaise even managed to earn ten of his points back just to lose them again when he "accidentally" missed his cutting spell from the back of Hannah's hand to her chest. Madam Pomfrey was going to let him slide until he sarcastically offered to heal the cut.

"He's almost as bad as Malfoy," Hermione said with great disdain as the two left Healing.

"I know, yet someone else to watch out for," Harry said with a sigh.

"So where are you off to?" she asked as she made a turn to head off to Ancient Runes.

"Occlumency with Dumbledore," Harry let out another sigh.

"Maybe it won't be as bad when it's not Professor Snape trying to teach you," she offered in a sympathetic voice.

"Yeah," Harry replied in a bitter tone, "maybe he'll actually try to teach me something."

Hermione gave a frown but nodded. The two then went their separate ways.

"Come in Harry," the Headmaster called from behind the closed door.

"So, how do you always know it's me Professor?" Harry asked not really expecting an answer.

The Headmaster's eyes twinkled as he replied, "Actually it is a form of legilimency Harry, one that you will learn this year. It is not really reading the mind, but rather seeing the person's aura, and feeling their presence."

"You can see auras and feel presences?"

"Yes Harry, as will you."

"But how can you feel a presence?"

"Have you ever felt like you were being watched? Or perhaps felt a certain emotion when someone was near you but you didn't see them?"

Harry thought back, yes of course he had felt both of those things, but what was the connection? Before he could ask, Dumbledore was answering for him.

"You will be trained to identify those feelings more closely. With practice you will be able to identify a feeling or see an aura with everyone you know, and everyone you don't." Harry had confusion in his eyes but before he could ask anything Dumbledore continued, "But we are getting ahead of ourselves. It will be best if we start at the beginning. It is my understanding that Remus helped you with your wandless magic training."

"Yes sir," Harry answered the statement.

"Well the first step of Occlumency is clearing your mind."

Harry nodded and brought up his calming picture of Hogwarts, quickly dropping everything until he was left with his comforting green. After so much practice he barley took him ten seconds to achieve this.

The headmaster's voice came from what seemed like very far away, and in a calm and peaceful manner, "Good Harry, now I want you to think of nothing but your color."

Harry sat there, his color the only thing filling his eyes. Then he felt it, a slight push into his thoughts. Curious as to what the sensation looked like Harry let his mind drift to it. Then in his green space he saw blue. It was like the green was cracking blue, it extended farther and farther and Harry felt the urge to think about the only night he had been with a girl. Ignoring the urge Harry concentrated on his green that was slowly falling away. He tried to reform it but the blue was adamantly refusing to ebb away from his peaceful green. Growing frustrated he pushed all the blue to one side, the green to the other. Then concentrating with all the will he could muster he focused on the blue to try and get rid of it. Instead of vanishing like he wanted it to, he began to see flashes of memories that were not his own.

A little boy playing with a wooden sword, swinging it about happily…the same boy crying over a man with piercing blue eyes that were now vacant…the boy, just a little older now was outside standing in a grassy plane, a tall woman with auburn hair was a little ways away, a flash of green and she fell, Harry watched the boy who looked to be eleven or so grow sad, but anger replaced it in a blink, suddenly an earthquake disrupted everything around him.

Suddenly Harry's eyes shot open and he realized he was in the Headmaster's office. Blinking a few times it took a moment to remember why he was here in the first place. It took another moment to process what he had just seen.

"Well, it seems you have already progressed a few steps already," Dumbledore smiled at Harry.

"Sorry, but what do you mean sir?"

"What did you do after I tried to invade your mind?"

Harry quickly explained the colors and what happened.

"This is most excellent Harry. You identified my mind trying to come into yours. My mind's shield is blue if you haven't guessed. When you separated the two you trapped me into your mind for a brief while. When you focused onto the blue of my mind, you basically reversed the spell. It took a moment for me to re-erect my mental shields and push you out, but no harm done."

"But I was only trying to push the blue out when I started to see the flashes of memories."

"It may take some time, but I believe you have just shaved a month off of mastering Occlumency."

"But how do you maintain your mental shields all the time? Am I going to go around all day concentrating on green?" Harry asked, desperation creeping into his voice.

Dumbledore chuckled then answered, "No, after enough practice your shields will stay in place, you'll have to reinforce them throughout the day, but they can stay in place without constant concentration. Everyday when you wake up, before you go to bed, and maybe sometime around lunch I would like you to reach your calming scene then go to your color. If the green is fading, or another color is present push out whoever is trying to get into your mind, and reinforce the green so it looks new at all times. I will warn you now Harry, Voldemort's mind is red."

Harry nodded, trying to take in his lesson.

"Also Harry, here is a timetable for your other extracurricular activities. Mondays and Wednesdays will be here in my office, the same days you have Occlumency. We did try to keep your schedule as manageable as we could." Dumbledore said with a sly smile twitching his beard up.

The lesson concluded with stealth and intrusion. Moody and Tonks were his two instructors. Harry laughed when Tonks was demonstrating the proper way to walk and not be heard when she tripped and made quite a bit of noise when she fell. The hour was interesting though, Moody gave him quite a few tips that were useful, Tonks too was a well of knowledge Harry just did not expect. Finally his day was over, with an hour to spare until dinner. Harry made his way to Gryffindor Tower, using all the stealth he had just learned he tried to sneak up on his friends. He almost managed it too until Ron quickly rose from his chair and it slid back into Harry's shin.

"Watch where you shove those things mate," Harry mock glared at his friend.

Ron laughed and retorted, "What? The great Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived, defeater of dark lords, bested by a chair."

"So, where have you been? Lessons were over two hours ago," Hermione asked.

"Extra lessons," Harry replied, "stealth and intrusion was today with Moody and Tonks."

"Oh yeah, we were told to get our schedule from you," Neville informed Harry. "We'll be joining you for some of the lessons."

"Ok, I don't know what all you guys are taking."

Hermione answered him, "Everyone but Luna is continuing Wandless magic, and I know I was supposed to join you for stealth," she finished glumly at missing the lesson.

"Me and Ginny are going to join you for strategy," Ron told him.

"Alright, that's Wednesdays," Harry told Ron, "make sure you let Ginny know. Where is Ginny by the way?"

"Library," Neville answered, "I saw her after my last class, she was mumbling about O.W.L.s and fanatic teachers."

"So what do you have tomorrow?" Hermione asked, she obviously ticked off the days mentally.

"The Dark Arts," Harry mumbled, still not knowing if he liked the idea.

"Oh yeah, Luna and I are joining you for that one too." Neville replied. Harry looked happy at having company with this particular class.

Harry then pulled out his books to try and do his homework; it seemed at this rate, he'd never be able to keep up.

After dinner the six friends were heading back to their dorms. Four pulled ahead and Harry realized that he was withthe only girl he hadever been with. Before he had a chance to say anything she leaned up and kissed him.

"O.W.L.s are killing me," she said with a mischievous grin.

"My schedule isn't too great either, I'll be in the library till curfew," Harry said with a sigh. He felt so relieved and stupid at the same time, of course she didn't want a one-night thing.

"Well, I have to study too, see ya babe," she said before kissing him again then rushing to catch up with their other friends. Harry grinned; maybe this year would be better after all.

* * *

Bobboky: Thanks for the review, I'm trying to introduce the new students slowly, I remember being sixteen and new people had to earn their stripes, I figure Harry and company will be of the same mold. Except maybe Hermione. As for the DADA teacher, he should show up in the next part, or maybe even the third one. And it'll be a double period :)

Fanastygirl721: I just now realised that your name wasn't fantasygirl lol! Anyway, that last bit was added just for you, a hint to know who its not at least. As to who it is, that may take a little longer. I'm a little startled over your observation of the amp being a cross of wandless and wand magic. That's coming into play later...


	9. A Very Long Week Part 2 Tuesday

**Disclaimer simple: Its mostly not mine

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**PART 2**

A grey Tuesday dawned over the grounds of Hogwarts castle. The wind murmured with a little dampness in its chill. Rain was coming. Harry awoke and smiled when he peered out the window of his dormitory. This was his idea of perfect weather.

Harry's smile grew as he realized that he did not remember one dream from the night before. His face almost split when it dawned on him that his scar hadn't hurt him since his first Occlumency lesson with Dumbledore. This was a vast improvement from the previous year. Not believing he could start the day in a better way his thoughts drifted to the night before.

"So what are you up to?" Harry looked up from the library table to find the girl he assumed was his girlfriend. Harry didn't really have any experience with that sort of thing. His one previous date was a disaster, and his parent's perfect relationship that he built in his mind had crumbled with his discovery in Snape's memory last year.

"I just finished my homework, now I'm reading ahead for classes tomorrow," Harry answered her.

A small frown tugged her lips downward, but her voice remained cheerful, "Oh, ok then, I guess I'll leave you to it."

Harry, not sure as to how to handle this turn of events closed his book. Rising from the table he whispered into her ear, "Let's go talk."

She smiled as they left the library.

Harry was glad he was up early enough that he didn't have to fight for the shower. The hot water hit him flattening out his hair. He knew once it was dry it would be out of control once again. Being that he inherited this trait from his father, he really didn't mind.

Since no one was awake, and breakfast wouldn't be ready for a little while Harry took advantage of the moment of peace and just relaxed under the pressure of the water. He closed his eyes, then remembering the reason his scar wasn't hurting he quickly went to the serene calmness within his own mind. He checked his mental shield over and realized a few cracks were present. Focusing on the emerald green they slowly receded and his shields were up once again.

That finished Harry stretched his muscles enjoying the feeling of the heat relaxing him to his fullest. He turned his neck from side to side, all tension leaving his body. Feeling good he picked back up where he left his memory off.

"Where are we?" she asked him, her eyes scanning the room.

"As best I can tell it used to be a study. I don't know why its entrance is in a hidden passage though." Harry too took in the room.

Even if it hadn't been used in quite some time the study held no evidence of being forgotten in time. The walls were a simple cream bordered in midnight blue, the floors carpeted in a vibrant red. The tables all looked like they were polished just that morning. There was a big green couch, along with a small yellow recliner. All these colors clashed violently, but at the same time seemed to fit together in only a way magic could handle. There was no set palette for the hardware either. Gold, silver, bronze, and black all lined any drawers or cabinets present. The passageway to get here was just outside the Great Hall, and as best as Harry could tell this study was basically the very center of the castle. He found it on the marauder's map. The entrance was a mirror you had to step through. Unlike the entrance at Kings Cross, instead of just walking through, the glass seemed to ripple and pool as you stepped through.

"So, this is where you take girls to _talk_?" she asked mischievously.

Harry blushed before answering, "You're the only person I've ever shown this place to."

"Well, I feel honored then," she smiled.

"As well you should," Harry retorted, he didn't know why, but she made him feel so comfortable.

She half sat half laid down on the couch, "So, what did you want to talk about?"

His answer was simple, he didn't feel awkward with her, and he knew they could talk about this or anything they wanted to, "Us…"

Leaving the shower Harry felt invigorated. He dressed in casual clothes that were comfortable knowing his Hogwarts robes would just cover them anyway. The dress code only limited the robe you could wear, Harry was thankful for this.

Dressed he looked around to his dorm mates and smiled. They were all still asleep. He put his amp on his hand, tugged each strap gently and they wrapped themselves around his hand.

In such a chipper mood he almost skipped down the stairs leading to the common room. If he was shocked to see Hermione pouring over her Charms book his face didn't show it.

"Good morning Hermione," Harry said, his voice resonating in cheerfulness.

Hermione, a little taken back by Harry's attitude spoke a soft shocked, "Good morning."

"So, what's on the plate for today then?"

"Charms…" Hermione started in on what would be coming up as the first lesson of the day.

Harry, as much as he liked and admired his friend, tuned out.

Their conversation over, the two who finally found each other were gently making out. Trailing small kisses up and down her jawbone, Harry was in bliss with everything that was so new to him. He knew that many would think they had moved too fast, he knew that some wouldn't understand, and he knew that he didn't care.

They slowly broke apart; Harry reluctantly opened his emerald eyes to find light blue staring back into them. Her blonde hair gently cascaded around her head on the green couch. Happiness crept into his skull as he gently smiled.

"Luna, I think we should get back to our rooms."

"Sorry Hermione, my mind was somewhere else," Harry said knowing if Hermione knew where his mind _was_ she would have a conniption.

She smiled at him, Harry wasn't often in this good a mood so she wasn't going to ruin it by snapping at her friend, "Did you learn the masking charm in chapter one?"

"No, I didn't have time last night to get to that one," he replied, still in a dreamy state.

She sighed at her friend when Ron came bouncing down the stairway. His bounce was for the breakfast that was being served.

"You two ready?" he beckoned them from the portrait hole.

Much to the surprise of Ron and Hermione Luna Lovegood, a Ravenclaw, was sitting at the Gryffindor table. Adding to their shock Harry sped up leaving them to sit by her. Then stopping them fully in their tracks he grabbed her hand, after a kiss on the cheek the two friend's jaws hung loose. After a minute to regain some composure, they sat across from Harry and Luna.

"Good morning Luna," Hermione said, questions dancing in her eyes.

"Good morning," the girl in question responded, either not noticing, or not caring about the confusion evident in her two other friends.

Ron, being Ron, asked, "What in the bloody hell got into you two?"

Harry, still in a daze, asked airily, "What do you mean?"

"Holy hell there are two of 'em," Ron managed while filling his plate.

Hermione gaze him a scolding glance, "When this happen then? It just seems kind of sudden."

"Yeah," Ron continued, "are you two a couple now or something?"

"Yes Ronald Harry and I are dating, and it started at Headquarters Hermione," Luna answered sounding bored doing so.

"Headquarters…" Hermione started in a far off voice as if trying to recall just when she missed them getting together, "when?

"Right after my dueling accident," Luna answered.

"Oh," was all Hermione said, the four continued their breakfast.

Ginny turned up about halfway through breakfast. A sad sort of smile appeared on her lips when she saw Harry and Luna. She already knew what had happened from Luna, she didn't say anything to the rest of their group because it wasn't her place. She sat on the other side of Luna and the four ate in a comfortable silence.

Neville rounded out the group sitting on the other side of Hermione. He reached for a slice of toast and began to eat when it slipped from his hand and landed in his plate.

"Luna, what are you doing here?" He asked in a shaken voice.

The other five filled him in, he seemed happy for the new couple. Finally breakfast was over, Luna and Ginny headed to Care of Magical Creatures after Luna gave Harry a kiss goodbye. The quarto of sixth year Gryffindors made their way to Charms. Before making it, someone tried to spoil Harry's day.

"God Potter, you're actually dating the retard of your group? I didn't think you could sink any lower. Well, actually I did, everyone thought you were with the mudblood. Or are you banging the trash on the side?" Draco Malfoy asked looking to get a rise out of Harry.

Ron, face turning red in anger, was held back by Hermione. Harry surprisingly was forced to hold Neville away from his blonde nemesis.

"Death Eater piece of shit," Neville spat at the boy, "one day you'll get yours."

Crabbe and Goyle flanked Draco from behind in case anything needed to be done.

"Oh, and is a squib like you going to put me in my place? Honestly Longbottom, you put the name of a pure-blood wizard to shame. Then again even you appear to be better than the weasel here. Being held back by the mudblood, honestly, just give him a sickle and a knut and he'll be too fascinated by them to cause any trouble."

Hermione finally got Ron to leave, muttering to him how it wasn't worth it. Neville reluctantly turned to go to class only after Harry whispered, "Watch when we leave."

The four were walking away when Draco called out, "Running from a fight? Just like your parents Potter, you'll join them soon you know!"

Draco didn't see Harry's eyes turn into the toxic green, nor would he have known what that meant. Neville did, and smiled as Harry reached out with his magic. He turned to see a gash open on Malfoy's cheek, ear to mouth. Neville laughed as the trio of Slytherins let shock sparkle in their eyes and run off at top speed. He abruptly quit laughing when he turned to Harry though.

Harry had fallen to his knees. His skin drained of color and he looked deathly pale. Something felt wrong, his stomach, he clutched it with his hand. The world in front of his eyes began to swirl and meld into something different. The color shifted, everything looked sharper, brighter. He heard an echo of Hermione saying something about getting help. It was all too blurry to make out, he turned to his friend, and he could see her, but also a blue haze encompassing her. Before he passed out he barely whispered,

"Your color is kind."

Harry weakly opened his eyes to see a white ceiling. The bed he was on was slightly uncomfortable, the sheets so straight they didn't seem to want to give and flex. He almost laughed when he realized where he was. He didn't laugh though because what sounded like a thousand voices at once filled his brain. Louder and louder the thoughts rang out, he almost let out a cry when they all died out.

"Ah, Mr. Potter I see you're awake. I thought you might have waited till at least the third day of school to be admitted into the hospital wing." Madam Pomfrey said, only slightly scolding him with her voice.

He gave the healer a slight smile before asking, "What happened?"

"Magical sickness I'm afraid. I ran a test to see if you had Shanker's Disease, and you'll be happy to know that you do not. It just seems that something happened and you got too much magic into your system. I advise you to be more cautious in the future. Here," she said while handing him a cigarette, "you'll have to smoke this before you can leave."

Harry mildly registered how weird it was to be given a cigarette in school or for that fact by the nurse. He took it, and held it in his mouth as the healer lit it for him with her wand.

The smoke was harsh as it hit the back of his throat making him gag. The smoke from the cigarette itself was a putrid green that stung his nose. He heard that some people smoked these voluntarily, even paying for them. He just didn't know why. The second drag was better. He could feel the light green smoke enter his lungs, when he exhaled the smoke was now purple. He felt like something was expelled from him, he felt calmer now not being on the verge of losing his breakfast.

"May I ask what this thing does?" Harry asked, making a face not liking the cigarette at all.

"The smoke expels any excess magic in your system," she replied simply.

Harry nodded and proceeded to finish the vile concoction that was healing him. When he was finished she banished it for him, ran her wand over him and cleared him to leave. Under the strict orders to return if he felt at all funny of course.

Having completely missed Charms, Harry sprinted to Transfiguration. He appeared in class only five minutes late.

"Sorry Professor," he said from the doorway.

"That's quite all right Mr. Potter; I knew you'd be late. Now, will you please find a seat." she replied, the sternness in her voice receding a little from normality.

Harry took one of the only seats left available which was in-between Jenks, and a Ravenclaw girl he didn't know. He absentmindedly marked his friends in the room. Ron was sitting on the other side of Sira, with Hermione and Neville a row ahead.

"Today we will start on human transfiguration. To begin with you'll be transfiguring yourself, later we will move into partners."

Harry smiled at the lesson plan. He always did like the idea of changing his appearance so he didn't have to deal with his unwanted fame all the time. It would also help with stealth and disguises he supposed.

"First I want you to begin with your hair, this being the easiest to do. Either try to grow it or shorten it in length. Try a new color or style." Professor McGonagall set them to their task, almost smiling at her words. She then turned to the blackboard to write some of the theory behind this magic as well as hints to help the students along.

Harry found that he could get only an inch worth of length to work with either growing or shortening his hair. He could also change the color to brown with much problem. As for style, even with magic, his hair was hopeless. The class around him was laughing at each other and enjoying the lesson. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil were in some sort of competition to make the most outrageous style. Hermione, with a disgusted look on her face, tried to perfect the magic, but only managed about the same luck as Harry.

When lunch finally arrived Harry had to meet up with Professor Flitwick to see what he had to do to make up for the missed class. Then he had to rush to the Great Hall to get some lunch. When he entered he noticed Luna at her own table now. Feeling like turnabout was fair play Harry joined her.

"Hey babe," she greeted him with a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey," he smiled in return.

Padma was sitting across from them, "So the rumors of the happy couple are true?"

"Rumors are already spreading?" Harry asked amazed at how quick these things spread.

"With people like my sister," Padma replied, "are you really all that shocked?"

"Not really, but one can hope can't they?" he replied.

Her only response was a sly smile.

After eating a bit Harry reached for the pumpkin juice. He noticed Cho Chang casting a dirty look their way. When he caught her eye she quickly looked away. He gave an exasperated sigh hoping all this wouldn't cause much trouble for Luna.

Luna turned to him, smiled, and said, "So, day two and you've already been to the hospital wing?"

Harry too smiled, "Yeah, I think Madam Pomfrey reserves me a bed throughout the year."

After lunch Harry quickly caught up to Hermione. They made their way to the dungeons for potions. Harry was not looking forward to this. This class too seemed to be made up of all the houses as everyone waited in the corridor to be let in. Harry and Hermione were the only two Gryffindors waiting. Harry also recognized Padma who had followed to lunch, Susan Bones, and a few others from the DA. The Slytherins still dominated the class population, Zambini, Malfoy, Parkinson, Bulstrode, and Nott were all present much to Harry's distaste. He did allow a smile when he noticed Crabbe and Goyle absent though.

He was ripped from his thoughts as a volatile Professor Snape beckoned everyone into the class. After everyone was seated and no one dared to make a sound the lesson began.

"This is NEWT level potions. As hopeless as some of you are and managed to con your way into this illustrious class," he stopped to glare at Harry while Malfoy snickered, "I will not tolerate anything below perfection. The level you will be working at for the next two years demands this, as the more complicated potions taught can be deadly if not treated properly. I will not risk the lives of the more capable students if you can not manage this class. From here out I have the authority to make you leave if you are not up to par."

"Potter," Snape's silky voice dripped with venom, "what is the main ingredient in the antidote for The Draught of Living Death?"

Harry, coming prepared for class this time asked, "Which antidote sir? There are two."

"Five points from Gryffindor for trying to make a teacher look bad. The antidote I am talking about is Waker's Calm."

"Unicorn horn," Harry said between clenched teeth.

"And why wouldn't I ask about Sleeper's Bane?"

"Because the main ingredient is Phoenix's tears, which are hard to come by." Harry said, anger still lacing his voice.

"Good, one point to Gryffindor," Snape said, his face contorting in displeasure. He then tapped the blackboard with his wand and the ingredients for Waker's Calm appeared. "You have the rest of the class to make this potion. If you deserve to be in this class, it will be finished by the time the bell rings. Begin!"

Harry pulled out his cauldron to start on the complicated potion. It was so time consuming that Malfoy didn't even have time to smart off some remark during class. By the time he was finished, Harry was happy with the results. The potion was supposed to be blood red when finished. He was happy to note his was red, only a few shades from what it was supposed to be. He looked over at the Slytherins, Zambini and Malfoy both had pink instead of the deep red. Nott was trying to hurry and finish to be able to stay in class. He smiled at seeing Hermione's blood red potion. For potions, today wasn't half bad.

The class started to trickle away when Snape called for Harry to stay after class. Malfoy smirked as he left the room. Harry sat in silence for five minutes when Luna and Neville showed up. Snape looked up; the mini class finally gathered he poured himself into another speech.

"The Dark Arts are not to be toyed with or taken lightly. You must respect them for what they are, and not be sucked into the power trip that may come with them. You hold someone's pain and misery at your fingertips. You can hold their life in your hands."

Harry shuddered involuntarily at that last sentence. Maybe this was going to far after all.

"To know what you are defending yourself against, you need to know this. That is the only reason I have to try and teach you any of it. Also, you may need some of these spells to attack. You can not win a battle when all you have is defense."

Harry nodded; again it felt against his will. Snape was actually taking this seriously, the least he could do was the same. Then, without warning Harry felt something in his mind, clouding itself so he couldn't think completely straight. He quickly divided the two without closing his eyes, with a little effort he through out the alien presence.

"Very good Potter, now I can teach you to the fullest knowing that you will not become the unwilling spy of the Dark Lord," Snape said, which was the closest thing to a compliment that he had ever directed to Harry.

"The first spell you will learn is _abstergo_, the movement is a wave left, to right, to left. This spell will fade away the part of the person you are focusing on. Most commonly the mouth for it is the easiest to vanish. Practice the movements, and then we will try the spell."

After dinner and trying to catch up on homework Harry headed to bed. He didn't really like doing that spell on his friend, nor on his girlfriend, but he did see how it could be useful. Lying in his four poster bed he thought about the day. Aside from getting sick this might have been the best day he had had at Hogwarts. He and Luna were happy; Snape was being tolerable, almost the impossible was happening. He wondered if it could last all year, and if it couldn't, how long would it last. Pushing those thoughts out of his mind he brought himself to his calming scene and color guard. Reinforcing it, and repairing where Snape had try to get in, Harry fell into a deep calming sleep.

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I have to admit, I'm getting better at updating: ) As for Part on of chapter 8 I forgot to mention I tried to write in Hagrid talk but it ended up being very horrible. So use your imagination.

Fanastygirl721: Ok, the girl is revealed because the plot has changed once again. As for ships, I don't sail any one of them. I'll read and write pairings of just about anyone, though I'm no fan of slash so that's pretty much my limitation. The Wandless/Amp magic came into play a little more here, there is definetly going to come in more often though. Thanks for the Occlumency compliment. Snape does seem to be a horrid teacher doesn't he? Stealth and Intrusion will come into play more later, when Hermione joins in. Tonks and Moody in the same room is just too good to pass on : ) The new students also have some very big roles to grow in to. I'm trying to be patient about throwing them in the mix, but oh well. Thanks again for reading and reviewing! P.S. I don't mind bad spelling, for I would be lost without Word.


	10. A Very Long Week Part 3 Wednesday

Disclaimer: It is mostly not mine, if it looks original, then it probably is mine.

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**Part 3**

Rain pelted the window of the sixth year's dormitory. Lessons were tiring yesterday and Harry didn't sleep well. Upon investigating his mental barriers Harry found many cracks and gaps in his mental wall. Voldemort had tried to implant something in Harry's mind, he could tell by the red stains ever so often. The shield held, but barely.

Harry cursed his adversary as he set upon restrengthening his shields; he was already late for breakfast. Hurriedly he got his green a continuous solid, showered, and dressed so he could get something to eat.

Rushing into the Great Hall Harry almost fell off the bench in his rush to sit.

"Rough night?" Ron asked, the meaning didn't slip by Harry though.

"Not that bad, but I've had better," Harry answered. This was the basic code for asking about visions of Voldemort.

Harry was about to try and prepare his plate when Luna, again at the Gryffindor table, placed a plate in front of him.

"Thanks," Harry told her with a grateful smile. He started to eat as fast as he could when Luna and Ginny rose to go to class. Luna gave him a kiss on the cheek and they were off. Neville and Hermione weren't around; Ron told Harry they already went to class, as the two old friends started to leave Sira and Jenks joined up with them.

"This place is a maze," Jenks grumbled good-naturedly.

"Yeah, it is, but you get used to it," Harry answered the new guy. Then he tapped one of the armor statues on the head three times with careful timing. The armor animated itself in a salute and sprang to the side. Harry and Ron just introduced the Haszel twins to secret passages. After a short stroll the four Gryffindors were standing in front of the defense against the dark arts classroom.

"That's insane," muttered Sira with a smile.

With a few minutes to spare, they decided to join the class. They each took a seat and began waiting for what would have to be an interesting class.

"This is NEWT level defense against the dark arts, my name is Professor Karkaroff. I have more experience in this subject than most, and we have the year to basically teach you sex years of knowledge considering your past teachers."

Harry glared at the arrogance of the man. A dark mark was burned onto his arm, he was running from Voldemort, and here he is acting like a hero.

"Today we will start on shield charms, so who can tell me why this spell is classified as a charm?" he asked the class in a eastern European accent.

Harry almost laughed, this was first year stuff. Even Hermione looked shocked at the question, then a little appalled before raising her hand.

"Yes Granger," he called on her.

"Because you are bringing something into existence through magic," she answered.

"Good, now, who here can produce a shield?" Karkaroff looked a little taken back at every hand raised into the air. "Anyone care to demonstrate?"

A couple hands dropped but the majority remained. Harry glanced around and took notice of the hands of the Haszel twins still raised. They both wore amps.

"Longbottom," Karkaroff called, "please come forward."

Neville rose from his seat drawing his wand. It was a good thing his wand was out because before he even righted himself a stunner was flying towards his head.

"_Protego_," he called swishing his wand tip down then up, the stunner hit the shimmering blue and quickly vanished. Then a book was flying towards him. Neville let go of his magical protection barrier and whipped his wand tip up to down and called, "_Contego_," and a shimmering yellow barrier engulfed Neville. The book hit but was sent rapidly into the direction it was originally cast from. Karkaroff banished the book then called,

"Halt! Good Longbottom, five points to Gryffindor. Now, ten points to anyone who can tell me a curse that has no defense."

A couple people raised there hands, but Harry sat there rather stumped. Everything had a defense really.

"Yes, Brown," he called on Lavender.

"The killing curse?" the answered in a questioning tone.

"Wrong! Anyone else care to take a guess?"

Harry raised his hand.

"Potter," the professor inclined his head.

"There is not a curse that does not have a defense."

"Good, take those ten points."

The lesson continued, some things they did was beginner stuff, some of it more advanced than they were ready for. Overall it really wasn't that bad, for a double period time seemed to fly by and suddenly the bell rang for lunch.

"Homework! Two rolls of parchment, one on the differences of _Protego_ and _Contego_, and the other on how you can defend yourself against the killing curse. Dismissed," he called out to the students.

At lunch Harry was a little shocked, it wasn't Luna that surprised him, but for the first time in five years the Patil twins were sitting together. He noticed a bit of three of the now five houses sitting together. Harry smiled at himself. Spread throughout the hall he also took notice of the D.A. sitting together. Karkaroff wasn't that bad of a teacher, but the D.A. needed to continue he knew, also the S.O.U.L. needed to be born from within. Harry's hundred yard stare didn't go unnoticed as Ginny made a joke at his expense.

"Hey, I heard that," he said indignantly.

"Oh yeah?" she challenged, "What did I say?"

Harry sputtered not knowing what she said; his friends had a good laugh at him.

After lunch Harry and Hermione waited outside the hospital wing for class. Hermione surprised him by asking about his fainting spell yesterday.

"Harry, did Madam Pomfrey test you for Shanker's?"

"Yeah, she said I didn't have it. What exactly is Shanker's by the way?"

"It's a magical disease named after Sir William Shanker. He was the most magical wizard of his time but his body could not handle all of the extra magic. It's said his organs began to break down and he would have to cast these huge powerful spells to release the energy. Supposedly he waited too long one day, he just kind of exploded after he fainted…"

Harry gulped at the information, but he didn't have time to focus on what could have happened since Hermione had more questions.

"What did you mean I had a kind color?"

"Before I passed out, I saw this like haze around you. It was calming really," Harry answered trying hard to remember the ordeal.

"What was it?" she asked in a low voice.

Harry shook his head a little, "It was this kind of blue, not really light or dark, I don't know really," he turned to look her in the eye, "I've never seen it before."

"Playa Potter, I just thought Draco was kidding about you stringing along the mudblood. At least she knows her place," Blaise interrupted them.

"You want your face to match his?" Harry bit out.

"Oooh, should I cower to the scar? Did I hit a nerve talking about your slut? Tell me Potter, you might even gain a little of my respect, do you do 'em both at the same time, or are you hiding the filth from your girlfriend?"

Before anyone noticed anything Harry hit Zambini. A satisfying crack under his amp covered hand. Hermione blinked when Blaise hit the ground.

She asked, "Harry, did you do that?"

"Uh, yeah, sorry, I couldn't hold back anymore."

"What spell did you use?"

Harry looked at her confused, but before he could ask Madam Pomfrey opened the door.

"And what has happened to Mr. Zambini?"

"He was in a rush and didn't manage to stop himself hitting the wall," Susan Bones answered the teacher with a grin.

"I see, well, accidents do happen. Let's get him in here and we'll get him healed," she said in an amused voice.

Occlumency rounded out the day that he was graded for. He entered the door and his mental shields were immediately put to the test. The mind trying to force its way into his had the will of a rapist. Harry fell to his knees closing his eyes, he divided his green but the other color was fleeting. Every time he thought he had it, it fled once more. A few moments later Harry felt the withdrawal and was drawn to it. The red was like blood, and Harry focused. With everything he had he focused, and then he opened his eyes.

The screaming was high pitched, but it came from his mouth. The room was not that of the welcoming Headmaster's, but dark, and dank, and instead of housing a beautiful phoenix, a python slithered at his feet. Harry looked down.

In Parseltongue he told the snake, "You're master is failing, you'd do well to leave, but if you remain tell him this, he will die in the face of light."

Harry actually laughed before he was thrown out of the mind of Voldemort and back into his own body.

Harry opened his eyes to face Dumbledore's. The Headmaster's eyes were focused above Harry's head, concern etched his features.

"You look me in the eye; I won that particular battle Professor."

The twinkle returned rapidly in the Headmaster's eye as he looked Harry in the eye. "Very well done Harry, very well done indeed, well, on to our lesson then I believe."

Harry gaped at his professor; he had just blocked Voldemort, not only blocked, but _possessed_ him. And he still had a lesson?

Dumbledore's beard twitched as he said, "Yes Harry, you still have a lesson. As surprised I am that you have come along this quickly had guarding your mind, what happened when you focused on Voldemort?"

"I sort of possessed him," Harry said timidly, not knowing if this would land him in trouble or not.

"Yes, though that is a form of Legilimency it is not the only one. This is what you need to learn the rest of the year, for it is much vaster than Occlumency."

Harry nodded to show he understood.

"Ok," Dumbledore seemed to try and think of what he was doing, then exclaimed, "Auras! The first step of learning any Legilimency is learning how to just read people. To do this you need to focus your magic."

Harry nodded again. He was a little scared because the last time he focused his magic he overloaded. With a sigh, he found his magic centre.

"Good," Dumbledore began again, "now I need you to try and focus your magic onto your eyes."

Harry tried to direct his magic, very thankful for the wandless magic lessons as he now had a great deal of control of his magic. He could feel it travel through him, reaching his eyes. There was a sharp pain but it subsided quickly. He reached under his glasses to rub his eyes, when he opened them everything was out of focus. He too off his glasses to clean them only to realize he could see everything better than he could any time previously in his life.

He looked to Dumbledore to see light gold light swirling around the headmaster. He also noted that the very walls of the school swam in a multitude of colors.

"Whoa," he said breathlessly.

Dumbledore just chuckled.

After O and L (which Harry was calling his lessons with Dumbledore) Harry waited for Ron and Ginny to join him and Kingsley Shacklebolt. He was no longer seeing the constant color of auras but he was happy at still not needing his glasses.

Ron and Ginny entered and the lesson began. Kingsley had a bunch of maps that had little dots on them to represent battles of old. They spent the time going over who did what wrong and why. Ron seemed to soak up the information; Ginny seemed to also have a knack for this sort of thing. It was a little too close to History of Magic for Harry's taste, but he did throw in a little bit of brilliance ever so often. But most times he was proved wrong.

After countless battle scenes Harry's mind was a little numb. It drifted to Luna quite a bit, but he really did try to focus. Finally the lesson ended. Kingsley gave them each a map of Hogwarts with instructions to devise an attack on the castle using fifty people. He wanted it next week.

Dinner came with nothing really interesting taking place. Afterwards the group of friends all went to study in the library, as well as do some of the homework that had been assigned. Finally Harry accompanied Luna to her dorm, and then he headed to his. He was exhausted by the time he reached his bed. After a quick reinforcing of his mental shields, he fell into a deep peaceful sleep.

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Ok, I know it's short, but it is a Wednesday, and maybe I'm cursing myself for wanting to do a chapter for each day of the first week. Anyway, before I do Reviewer Response I want to let ya'll know of a new project I'm on. It's called The Tales of Knockturn Alley, it is a bit grim, and if anyone wants more details on participating let me know at JPx at fanfiction dot net.

Fanastygirl721: I know Luna is OOC, but oh well. I'm going with that was her front, or maybe Harry brings her to earth. I'm glad you liked the Dark Arts class, the particular spell they learned was vaguely mention in Sect of the Serpent, a great fic : ) I'm still plugging that story. I thought the cigarette was kinda funny too, poor people with Shanker's, I wonder if we know anyone with it... As for ships, I'm going to do a H/Hr one day, just to cover all three lol. Chapter eight is being broken up by days in these parts, once i move on to chapter nine the days will become sporadic again. Thanks for the Review!

wolfbow: Thanks for the review and the props for the descriptions and classes. On my lack of reviews, I really don't know why there are so few. One hundred and sixty six people have read the last part since it has been posted. Out of 166 two people reviewed. Oh well...


	11. A Very Long Week Part 4 Thursday

**Disclaimer: Some of its mine, some of its not, if you can find it in a copywritten book, then it is probably not mine.

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**Part 4**

The rain had stopped by Thursday to the relief of Harry. His morning would be spent outside and he wasn't thrilled at the prospect of spending it in the rain. Harry remembered to check on his mental walls. They were pretty much how he left them but he wanted to try something Hermione told him about from one of the books she had found concerning the subject. After reinforcing the green he kept the feeling and image in place he then brought up his calming Hogwarts scene again. This time he dropped all but blue. He noticed that when dropped the color kind of morphed into an aqua sea green. He knew it was successful, and he now had two walls up. He tried to go for a third, but a pressure built in his head as he tried to once again bring forth the scene while maintaining two mental shields. His head throbbed terribly and he abruptly quit. He opened his eyes and sighed, he'd have to go to Madam Pomfrey this morning.

He took a step towards the shower and when his foot connected to the floor his head surged violently with pain and his leg gave out. He fell to the floor, his head bouncing off with a sick thud. His brain echoed and reverberated with waves and waves of pain. Tears prickled Harry's eyes as he shut them. He heard footsteps approach him, but the noise in his head redoubled with each step as the vibrations traveled from their feet to the floor below his head. He heard Neville call out his voice, this is what finally took him over the edge as he passed out.

Harry's eyes peeked open a little. The white of the ceiling felt blinding, like it was burning his retinas. He closed them again. He made a mental checklist, white ceiling, uncomfortable bed, too clean smell; he was back in the hospital wing. Cautiously he tried to open his eyes again. The white was bright this time, but not blindingly so. He gave a sigh of relief. That sigh must have alerted Madam Pomfrey because she was soon at his bedside.

"Mr. Potter, at this rate I am going to have to dedicate a bed just for you."

"At this rate I wouldn't blame you," Harry replied. His comment finally got him what he was going for. The strict healer smiled.

"Well, at any rate you need to take both of these potions," she indicated two goblets on the bedside table, "and then have another sleep. If you are lucky you will be out for afternoon classes."

Harry nodded his head which was still a bad idea because the pain was still lingering. He downed the goblet closest to him which greatly relieved the remaining pressure that was present. Then he drank the second goblet which was oddly sweet. After replacing both on the table his eyes grew very heavy. His head instead of pounding began to swim. With a slight smile to the healer Harry's head hit the pillow and he was asleep.

Upon awakening again Harry realized it was time for lunch. He made a quick trip back to Gryffindor Tower when he realized he again needed his glasses, and then instead of making his way down to the Great Hall he decided to try and find Hagrid and Professor Sprout to see what he had missed. After getting the lessons that he had missed and making sure he had the makeup work that he would need lunch was over and he was traveling fast to Professor Flitwick's classroom. He found a seat with his friends.

"Harry, are you ok?" Hermione asked.

"I'm fine; I just think I overdid it this morning with Occlumency."

Her small voice replied, "Oh…"

Before any farther discussion could be held small Professor Flitwick stood on his stack of books and charmed two quills to start flying and fighting each other like a dogfight. The quills zoomed around the room, one would dive bomb in an evasive maneuver only to be followed by the other. The class was in awe.

"Today we will start on detailed charms. This is different than issuing a simple command as well as being different than animating an object." His small voice squeaked to the classroom.

Harry was a little disheartened as he left the Charms classroom. He had been assigned not only extra reading but also extra homework. He just did not get the charm. For the entire class period he tried but received almost no results.

The quill simply refused to move.

On their way to Transfiguration Harry grumbled, "Another night in the library."

Ron laughed as Hermione gave them a hard glare.

Sira who was walking with her brother behind them mentioned, "I could help you."

Harry smiled as he said, "Thanks." She was the first to get the charm right in class. Hermione was very put out by this.

"Besides, it may be because you're still not used to the amp by now."

"I hope so," Harry said, still not feeling completely comfortable with the two newest Gryffindors.

Transfiguration was basically a mild continuation from the last class. Harry did get some enjoyment at Hermione turning her hair straight and blonde and then received many cat calls from her male classmates. Even Professor McGonagall looked somewhat amused.

That evening's class of wandless magic was not eventful. Harry had taken off his amp, he suspected the combination of wandless magic and amp magic caused his magical sickness. He'd have to ask Dumbledore about that later. Overall he was progressing quite nicely in the area though.

At dinner Luna again was at the Gryffindor table. Even with the close proximity she barely acknowledged Harry's presence.

"Something wrong?" Harry asked his girlfriend in a whisper.

"All is right, right as rain, the sun shines, but it stays the same," she answered in her sing-song voice. Harry had assumed that it was a defense mechanism.

"Did I do something?"

"I do not know what you did Harry. What _did_ you do?"

"Nothing, what, what's wrong?" Harry asked feeling very wrong footed.

Her tone suddenly became very serious, "Are you going to spend half the year in the hospital wing?"

"That, that was an accident. Nothing wrong, just a headache."

The airy voice penetrated her voice again, "And now he goes back to hiding himself. Well, I'm full; I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Luna got up but before she could walk Harry said, "Wait Luna, I'll walk you to Ravenclaw tower."

"Harry, I can find it on my own," and with that she was gone.

"What the bloody hell was that all about?" Ron asked Harry.

"I don't know," Harry answered feeling very lost in what just happened.

"Honestly," Hermione began, "she was concerned about you Harry and didn't know how to deal with it. Knowing you you can expect some more encounters like that."

"But I didn't do anything."

"I know Harry, its just Luna's way."

Harry turned back to Ron, his eyes cast in deep confusion.

"Don't ask me mate, I can't figure out normal girls, I'm even more lost when in comes to Loon…Luna."

Harry cast a hard glance at Ron, "Well, I'll be in the library."

Harry had three books all turned to the charm he was trying to perform. The charm would allow you to make an object basically think. Harry's mind immediately went to the Burrow, a brush in a soapy sink scrubbing a pot.

He tried the charm once more, a ninety degree turn, ending in a circle motion. The book in front of him didn't even twitch.

"Well there's your problem," Sira had a bemused expression plastered to her face.

"And what would that be?" Harry asked with an edge to his voice.

Sira frowned but answered, "Don't turn your wrist. With this spell curl your index and middle finger toward you, then extend them. Then finish the circle and the incantation."

She showed him using her own hand, the book in front of Harry began walk around like on guard duty. Harry watched then tried it himself. To his amazement the next book started to prance around.

Sira's book saw Harry's and it immediately began an attack. Harry laughed as his book tried to prance away. The laugh was probably a bad idea.

"What is going on h…" but Madam Pince the librarian did not finish her sentence. Her eyes were fixated on the two books, one trying to destroy the other. Harry and Sira quickly dropped their spells; the books went limp back on the table.

"Detention, both of you, tomorrow night, be here at seven."

Harry collapsed into a chair by the fire in the common room.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked noticing his face looked troubled.

"The first week isn't even over yet and I've been to the hospital wing twice, and now I have a detention tomorrow night."

Hermione looked shocked and asked, "Why do you have detention tomorrow?"

"Sira was showing me that charm I was having trouble with. Well, I got the hang of it in the library, err, our books were kind of fighting."

"Brilliant," Ron said, amusement dancing in his eyes.

"It is not brilliant Ron, Harry could have destroyed one of the books," Hermione said in a scandalized voice.

"Hermione," Ron started, and then continued in a slow voice, "We are wizards and witches. If the book had been destroyed Harry could have fixed it."

"That does NOT give him the right to destroy books," Hermione started in. Harry could smell one of their arguments brewing. He quietly made his way to his dormitory.

Jenks was lying on his bed reading a letter. He looked up when Harry entered.

"Jeez Harry, got my sister in trouble on the fourth day of school," he said in a condescending tone.

"Sorry bout that," Harry replied not liking this conversation.

Jenks laughed. At Harry's confused look he said, "I'm just messin' with ya. She would have gotten in trouble on her own, or at least with my help sooner than later. Just glad to know at least one of my roommates knows how to have a little fun."

Harry had to smile at this; the twins were definitely capable of growing on him. Before going to bed he did a quick check on his mental shield. He closed his eyes and to his surprise he saw the aqua sea green double shield. Not one crack was present. Shrugging to himself he fell into a deep peaceful sleep.

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I know it is really short, but its a Thursday at school, and Thursadays just aren't that exciting.

Five spaces left on the Knockturn Alley project, if anyone wants information about writing for it let me know at JPx at fanfiction dot net or let me know in a review.

fanastygirl721: SOUL is coming, the DA is coming soon, and I hope you liked the added moments with the OCs. The vision thing will be answered soon, and I hope to keep the updates coming : )

ArnryFife: Thank you so much for the review. It makes me feel good that you would take the time and effort to leave a great critique. I know I'm bollocks (sorry, had to do it) with adding in the British slang. I'll try and work on that. The cursing is a bit OOC for them, but I'm going for an authentic sixteen year old, even if it does travel out of cannon. As for the sex, I really didn't want it in this story, but the story evolved, and for better or worse it is what it is. A reason will definetley come into play later. But rest assured, the sexual encounters will be very limited. As for Luna, I shot myself in the foot trying to build up the mystery of who the girl was in earlier chapters, she did lose the reason I love her so much, but I am trying to bring it back now. I hope to keep all my characters with all their flaws and idiosyncrasies. As for Harry being The Powerful One, sure he'll get power in this story, but it will come at certain prices. As for Remus, he will be returning too. Thanks again for the review!

Zozia: Explanations coming, I'll keep it in mind. Thank you for reviewing, and I hope you continue to enjoy reading.


	12. A Very Long Week Part 5 Friday

**Disclaimer: I do not own a thing in the Harry Potter universe, that said, all those little bits you don't recognize are all mine ; )

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**Part 5**

Friday dawned in brilliant sunlight. Harry, being Harry, couldn't be like every other kid on the planet who absolutely loved Fridays. No, today he had Double DADA with a former Death Eater, or at least Harry thought he was a former Death Eater. Then he had Double Potions with _another_ former Death Eater, again, at least Harry thought he was a former Death Eater. Add to this a detention in the evening and somehow ticking off his girlfriend…

Harry was dreading this day.

His mental shields were still in place, they looked almost undisturbed. The only difference from the night before was that they were a slight shade off in color. Harry tried to get the color right warily, but they would not revert to normal. He shrugged this off and continued about his day.

As he left the tower he did note that he was one of the few awake. He had left Ron and Neville sleeping in the dormitory. Absently he did notice that Jenks was not present. His thoughts were clouded though as he made his way to the Great Hall for breakfast. For the life of him he did not know where he went wrong yesterday with Luna.

When he entered the only people he recognized were Sira and Jenks at the Gryffindor table. Each was hunched over their plates whispering to each other. With a sigh Harry joined them.

"Good morning Harry," Sira said as he sat.

"Morning," Harry nodded to the twins. "So, what are you two on about?"

"Oh, nothing," Jenks said with a glint in his eye.

"Nothing at all," Sira added, "care for some pancakes?" She asked holding the plate.

Harry nodded and relieved the girl of the plate. He started to eat as the hall began to fill. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville soon sat with Harry. Even with all his friends present Harry felt a pang in his stomach as Luna walked in and headed to the Ravenclaw table. His mood did lighten somewhat with a commotion from the far table that was the Slytherin's.

Laughter rippled from a central spot of the Slytherin table. Harry couldn't see what was so humorous but he was looking. Most of his friend's were too. The only two people that seemed truly nonplussed about the ordeal were Sira and Jenks. Those two just kept eating without a care in the world. Harry was about to ponder what that was all about when some of the students shifted and Harry saw the object of everyone's humor.

Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zambini, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, Bulstrode, and Pansy Parkinson were standing in a line. Their black robes had turned red; each head of hair was a matching gold. When Draco tried to speak Harry could barely hear a roar issuing from his mouth. His pale cheeks tinged pink. Blaise turned to Draco with his wand; he roared something and butterflies began to flutter about Malfoy's head. Crabbe and Goyle started to try and swat the butterflies away to find paws instead of hands. The new cumbersome additions swayed wildly, hitting Malfoy more than once. Then, all seven Slytherins froze, a glassy look entering their eyes.

Then Malfoy stepped forward. In a very girly voice he began to sing.

_"My name is Draco, I'm a lonely boy_

_Nightly I play with my wand, it's my only toy"_

At this point the other six started to shuffle their hands and feet in sync with each other and began to sing back up. Draco continued.

_"I polish and shine it, it must gleam_

_But now I must live my dream, my dream to sing!"_

Draco then twirled, his robes stretched out in a circle as he began to dance. The laughter in the Great Hall was almost deafening.

_"Oh Gryffindor, you are my king_

_For you, I'd do anything_

_Oh Gryffindor, you rock my world_

_I wish I was a Gryffindor girl!"_

At this moment Malfoy's slicked back golden hair erupted into very big teased hair. Harry thought his face was going to split as the plain red robes transformed into a scarlet dress.

_"But I'm a Slytherin, envious and green_

_Here is my truth: I want to be a Gryffindor queen!"_

Malfoy then fell to his knees. The six backup singers started to clap for their comrade who had just given his all to the song. Snape rose from the teacher's table and after some hurried waves of his wand the seven Slytherins were back to normal. Very confused, but normal.

"Whoever is responsible for this is going to pay," Snape said in his iciest of voice. The hall effectively died of all laughter. Snape gave a hard glare at Harry who just couldn't wipe the mirth from his face.

"That was absolbloodybrilliant!" Ron said, tears of amusement leaking from his eyes. "That's all we need," he continued, still trying to catch his breath, "another song!"

Hermione being Hermione was trying not to laugh, but her shaking shoulders gave her away. Ginny's face was lined with the humor, obviously she was impressed. Neville had his head down from laughing so hard. Harry was amazed though, Sira and Jenks were still calmly eating their breakfast.

"So you two have something against the Slytherins too?" Harry asked so only they could hear.

"While tragic they should have to suffer this early morning," Jenks said.

"They should know better than to try and pick unknown enemies," Sira finished.

Harry nodded in understanding. Of coarse the Slytherins, mainly Malfoy and those who had been pranked this morning, would try and pick on the two newest Gryffindors. Harry shook his head as Malfoy led his six friends from the hall. A death glare in his general direction meant this was just the beginning.

Harry noticed he had a little time to kill before class; he looked to the Ravenclaw table. He thought it would be a good time to try and fix whatever he messed up yesterday. To his surprise, Luna was no where to be seen. Feeling the beginning of his bad mood returning he stayed with his friends as they discussed the brilliance of what had happened a few minutes ago.

That oily voice, it reached into your head and stayed there. Snape was stalking up and down the potions lab. Harry tried to concentrate on the potion he and Hermione were working on. On person had to put in the ingredients and stir while the other did the spell work required for this particular concoction bubbling away. It was currently blue; part of the assignment was to figure out what they were making before the class ended. They had thirty minutes left.

Harry added three drops of Thestral blood. The very thought of Thestrals made him shiver slightly. The red blood hit the blue potion, as Harry swirled the liquid three times anti-clockwise. The liquid turned green as he lowered the heat. Hermione said the next incantation and something clicked in Harry's brain.

On the parchment to the side of him he wrote 'Floo Powder'. Hermione looked to where he was writing and her eyes grew round.

"How did you figure it out?" she asked astonished.

"Thestral blood, a mobility charm, and the potion turned green. It wasn't that hard Hermione."

She still gave him an appraising stare. Harry, getting a little irked by this turned to her and said, "We might want to finish it though, we can still cock it up you know."

Hermione blushed and went back to working on the potion. Harry's job was finished for the moment so he relaxed slightly. This is when Professor Snape slipped beside the young man.

"Potter, I know you had something to do with this morning. If it wasn't you it was one of your silly little friends. I'd watch my step if I were you, your arrogance will lead you nowhere…_pleasant_."

Harry quietly seethed as the Potions Master stalked away. He was outright tired of being blamed for everything. What didn't help were Malfoy and Zambini discussing something in hushed voices over their caldron. Ever so often one would glance at Harry.

"By now you should know what you are brewing," Snape said quietly at the front of the class. No matter how low he said it, everyone heard his oily voice. "Who can tell me what it is?"

Few hands went up; among them were Harry's and Hermione's.

"Mr. Malfoy?"

"Sir, I believe we are brewing Locating Gel." Malfoy said with an air of superiority.

"That is…incorrect Mr. Malfoy. Five points for participation all the same."

Malfoy looked somewhat shocked.

"Anyone know the correct answer?" Harry again raised his hand in response to Snape.

"Ok, Potter, let's see how badly you don't know this," Snape said with a smirk. Malfoy laughed at Harry's reddening face.

"Floo Powder…_sir_."

"Correct…one point to Gryffindor, and five away for your lack of respect."

Harry gritted his teeth in response. Snape getting a rise out of him would do nothing but make him lose more points.

"He's still a git," Harry mumbled while leaving potions.

"Yes Harry, but you did well in not letting him bait you," Hermione responded.

"I'd still like to knock him about with my caldron."

Hermione gave him a disappointed look as they sat down for lunch.

"What are you two on about then?" Ron asked as he sat across from them.

"Harry's going on about how Snape is still a pillock," Hermione answered.

"Shock! Horror!"

"Shut up," Harry said to his amused friend.

"Oh come on, some things never change. Besides, you'd die of shock if Snape came in one day and treated you fairly."

"Yeah, maybe, then again I'd go for the coronary over being treated like total shite," Harry answered.

"Harry! Language!" Hermione admonished.

Ron laughed at his friend. Harry grinned, but it faded as Luna sat at the Ravenclaw table again. With a sigh he rose from his seat. When he sat down Luna gave him a hard stare with her pale blue eyes.

"Can you tell me what is wrong today?" he asked his girlfriend with all the patience he could muster.

"Nothing is wrong today," she replied.

"Ok…can you tell me what was wrong yesterday?"

"I don't know what was wrong yesterday. Maybe you can tell me," she said in an almost airy voice.

"What do you mean? After I got out of the hospital wing…"

"And why were you in the hospital wing? What did you do to land yourself there this time?" she asked calmly, but Harry say the struggle in her eyes. She had been worried, he hadn't told her what had happened, and then it just kind of spiraled.

"Hermione had read where some people could do multiple Occlumency shields. I put two in place, you know since Voldemort is a pretty strong Legilimens, I tried for a third but it hurt my head. That's what happened yesterday morning," he said, an edge creeping into his voice.

Pale blue eyes went from torn, to sympathy, to hurt in a flash. "I'm sorry Harry," he had to strain to hear her low voice, "I'm sorry."

With those words Luna kissed his cheek and quickly left the Great Hall.

"I'll never understand," Harry grumbled to himself.

"You're not supposed to," Padma winked at him.

"Please pass your homework forward," Karkaroff said in his pompous tone. After all the parchment had been sent forward he asked one of their homework questions. "How can you defend yourself against the killing curse?"

Few hands rose, Harry was shocked to see the Haszel twins among them.

"Yes, Haszel?" the professor asked.

Jenks replied, "Which one of us?"

Karkaroff's face darkened as he stated, "You will be fine."

"The killing curse can be avoided by ducking, running, or all together avoiding it."

Karkaroff nodded before asking, "Anyone else know any other ways?"

Fewer hands rose.

"Yes, the other Haszel."

"Any solid object can stop the curse," Sira answered, "so taking cover, or conjuring something to block you will save you."

Karkaroff nodded again. "Is there any other way to stop a killing curse?"

No one raised their hand, so Harry did, much to Hermione's chagrin.

"Yes, Potter?"

"If the two duelers have brother wands any spell can stop the _Avada__ Kedavra_."

"Very good," Karkaroff said while twisting his goatee between his fingers. "Today we will be discussing another Unforgivable spell, the Cruciatus Curse."

Harry's stomach gave a twinge. His mind racing back to when he tried to perform the spell. Also in his mind was every time he had been hit by the horrid spell. He looked over, Neville also had gone pale.

"Once you have been hit by this curse, how can you free yourself?" Karkaroff asked the class.

Everyone froze. Harry had never heard of a defense against _Crucio_. Apparently from the silence of his classmates, neither had they.

"No one?" the professor asked, "fine, homework is two feet of parchment on how to escape the Cruciatus Curse."

The rest of the lesson continued on their shield work. Harry noticed that the people either had perfect shields or none at all. Every DA member present had perfect shields. Harry started to make a mental list of SOUL nominees.

After class everyone headed to dinner. Harry noticed Luna once again at the Gryffindor table. She smiled as he sat next to her.

"Have a good day?" she asked passing him a dinner roll.

"Better than I thought it would be," he replied giving her a grateful smile. "How was yours?"

"I've had better. It's week one and I'm already behind on homework," she said while starting in on her plate.

"I might as well warn you, it just gets worse from here," Harry said, he noticed that the air was a little stiff from some left over tension.

She playfully slapped him on his arm. "So, what do you want to do tonight? If I remember correctly you don't have an extra lesson."

Harry's face fell a little, "I have a detention tonight."

"Oh…whatever for?" she asked, disappointment in her eyes.

"Sira Haszel was showing me a charm I was having problems with. Madam Pince didn't find our library books fighting as amusing as we did."

"Oh…oh well. I guess another time then. Though I don't know when we'll ever begin," she sang in a low voice.

Damn, Harry thought, he messed up again somehow. To confirm this Luna got up and left the Great Hall.

"I'm not sure how well this can work out," Harry mumbled.

"Harry," Hermione said in that voice she used when she was trying to point something obvious out to him, "she wants to spend time with you. But when you get a detention, with another girl I might add, it doesn't bode well. She sees her time with you slipping away, and it's because of you."

"I didn't want to get in trouble," Harry said shortly, "and what does it matter if I got a detention with another girl? It's not like we were snogging or anything."

"Luna wants to be the only girl you are with really. She may even have a problem with me or Ginny, but I doubt it. Remember Cho?"

"All fur coat and no knickers that one," Ron added to the conversation.

"Be that as it may…" but Hermione was cut off.

"What does that mean?" Harry asked.

"She was superficial, you know, all flash on the outside with nothing underneath."

"Oh, yeah. Wait, are you trying to say Luna is superficial like Cho?" Harry asked his two best friends.

"No," Hermione answered, "I was saying every girl is like that in a way. They want the man in their life all to themselves. You getting in trouble with Sira, who Luna doesn't even know, makes things worse. I don't know what Ron was trying to say."

"Hey, I was just making an observation!"

"It would do you and this conversation well if you would observe the present instead of the past," Hermione gave her retort.

And they're off, Harry grinned at his friends as they began to argue. Some things just wouldn't change.

For detention Madam Pince split Harry and Sira up. Sira was in charge of making sure every book was in its proper place. Harry, much to his disappointment was left to clean the tables of any graffiti AND scrubbing the floor. This would have been cake, if only they were allowed to use magic. Add to this Mr. Filch was watching over them to make sure they didn't talk or have any fun whatsoever it was turning into a rather long night.

Harry collapsed into bed after a shower and a change into night clothes.

"Well, I'm shattered," he said dully.

"As a prefect I'm supposed to say 'serves you right'," Ron said with a silly grin on his face.

"Watch it Potter, I don't want to hear about you being tired after a night out with my sister," Jenks said from his bed.

"Piss off Haszel, she shouldn't had gotten me in trouble."

"Oh, that's it," Jenks said as he got out of bed and jumped on Harry's, pinning Harry down. Ron was laughing until something went wrong.

In a flash Jenks was against the far wall panting for breath. The thud Ron had heard must have been him. Harry was on his feet, crouched on his bed, a look in his eye that Ron couldn't place. Then it hit him, it was fear, Harry looked like a caged animal. The look faded away as Harry stared at Jenks.

"Oh hell, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that," Harry said in an exasperated tone.

"S'alright," Jenks answered still trying to gather his breath, "didn't know you would react that way, my fault really."

"Sorry, I just don't like to feel trapped," Harry said meekly.

Jenks nodded then asked, "Could you hand me the silver case that's on my nightstand?"

Harry got up and found the little silver case. He walked over and handed it to Jenks. The boy opened the case and plucked a familiar looking cigarette into his mouth. He then withdrew another little metal case and flicked it open. He spun a little dial with his thumb and a small fire erupted from it. He lit the cigarette.

The boy inhaled green smoke, and exhaled purple.

"Ah, do you have to do that in here?" Ron asked with a sour look on his face.

"Sorry, I have Shanker's disease."

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Fanastygirl721: Well, here is part five, only two to go, next part the DA returns.The SOUL is coming very soon. And the OCs are worming their way in more and more. Hope you like it! I can't wait to read your Knockturn Tale (which is up now, come on, I know you all want to read it). I'll try and keep these updates on schedule.

Zozia: Thanks for the review! I tried to add some more of the British slang in this one, let me know if it worked for better or worse. Yes, Luna has her part to play, even if it is for the 'weirder'.

OrganiclyMe: I'm just going to accept that I have drawn a quiet crowd. Thank you for the review and compliment. Even if I know people are reading it's great to hear from them.

Hope to see ya next time!


	13. A Very Long Week Part 6 Saturday

**Disclaimer: The characters and locations of the Harry Potter world do not belong to me. That being said, anything in this fic that isn't in the Harry Potter world probably does belong to me.

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**Part Six**

Saturday morning, a time to lie in and relax…unless you're Harry Potter. Harry was being shaken roughly awake by Ron. Ron was saying something but Harry just could not make out what was being said. Ron losing all patience lightly slapped his friend.

"Whaddya do that for?" Harry asked rubbing his cheek.

"Sorry mate, you wouldn't wake up. I put down Quidditch tryouts for this morning."

"And why couldn't you have told me this, oh I don't know, _yesterday_?"

Ron's ears turned slightly pink. Harry shook his head and began his preparations for the day. Mental shields, check; shower, check; broom, check twice. Harry smiled at the two brooms, Ron looked confused.

"Um, Harry, why do you have two brooms? And why do you have a chaser model?"

"I wanted to discuss this with you actually, but seeing as I didn't know the tryouts was coming so soon, I didn't get the chance. We need three new chasers, yeah? And the chasers usually have a leader,yeah? I thought you might have a little competition during tryouts. The best chaser earns a new broom while they are able to keep their spot. Either of the other two chasers can challenge for the spot in some sort of contest. This would give them even more incentive to stay at the top of their game."

Ron's eyes lit up as he said, "Harry Potter that is a bit of brilliance!"

Harry and Ron headed down to the Great Hall for a spot of breakfast before tryouts were to begin. Ron had his Cleansweep proudly on his shoulder. Harry sported a broom on each of his shoulders. The incredulous looks cast his way made him grin.

"God Potter, if I were about to die I wouldn't be worried about trying to impress people with two brooms," a cold drawl of a voice came from the side of the two friends.

"Shove off Malfoy; don't you have anything better to do?" Ron asked in a bored voice.

"Oh, the blood traitor wants to talk about better things to do? If I were you weasel, I would quit trying to sniff the mudblood's knickers and start trying to get my family name out of the mud."

"Yeah, and if I were you Malfoy I would have killed myself long ago, do us a favor eh sunshine?" Ron shot back.

"You two really are pathetic, I'll be seeing you later Potter."

Malfoy purposely strode away. Ron gave Harry a worried look, "What in the bloody hell was that about?"

Harry shrugged, and the two walked into the Great Hall.

The smell of the freshly cooked food hit the two teenagers full on. The smell made Ron's stomach grumble in anticipation.

"Can't you control that thing?" Harry asked.

"I'm a growing boy with needs," Ron replied.

"How long are you going to use that excuse?"

"Until I'm grown."

The two best friends laid their brooms gently beside them and began piling their plates with the exquisite breakfast the house elves had prepared. Harry began his breakfast but at a much slower pace than Ron. Sooner than Ron had wanted, and without a sign of Luna showing up, it was time to head to the Quidditch pitch.

"All right you lot," Ron was in front of the Gryffindors who had showed up. He seemed to be in his element Harry noted.

"We're having full tryouts this year. First will be Chasers, so anyone interested please come front and center!" Ron then lowered his voice to Harry, "Help me watch 'em eh? I already know you'll be on the team, so keep an eye out for me."

Harry nodded and Ron was shouting again. "Chasers line up; each of you will have five minutes to get the quaffle by me, so let's begin."

Harry watched as Ron fly to guard his three posts. Seven people kicked off from the ground after him, a girl Harry had seen a few times in the common room was the first to have her chance, she looked to be a third year. Her first three minutes were all right at best, she'd just throw the red ball and hope to get lucky. Sometimes she did. Her last two minutes though caught Harry's attention. She would throw the ball in an arc beside her then rush off for it. When she got there she would hit the ball, it reminded of Harry of his muggle school days when they'd have to play volleyball in P.E. Ron never knew what was coming; she scored six times in two minutes, which was very good.

Harry blandly noted that the second and third people were dreadful. Fourth was Ginny. Harry watched interestedly as she scored goal upon goal on Ron. At first Harry might have suspected an older brother going easy on his younger sister, but the look of concentration and aggravation on Ron's sweaty red face erased any notion of him letting her slide.

The fifth and sixth people were even worse than the second and third. Harry was getting a little fearful that their chaser team would be lopsided and that two would have to carry the third until the final person was up. She flew through the air like it was nothing to her. She had to be in the seventh year because Harry did recognize her, but still didn't know her name. She didn't pummel Ron with the efficiency as Ginny did, but she was good.

Ron landed near Harry, both wearing grins on their faces.

"Well, that was easy," Harry started.

"One, four, and seven," they said together. Ron nodded then shouted to the crowd before him.

"Will Sarah Todd, Ginny Weasley, and Amber Sleigh please come forward!"

The three girls approached and Ron welcomed them to the Gryffindor house team. With a nod to Harry, Harry picked up the Nimbus FX and was amused as six eyes grew wider.

"New to our team this year will be a reward for being the better chaser." Harry walked to Ginny and handed her the broom. "Either of you," he motioned to Sarah and Amber, "can challenge Ginny for this broom. The challenge is the same as you just did, whoever gets the most goals gets the broom. Today Ginny won. You can only challenge once a week, and the defender only has to defend once a week. A challenger can not challenge two weeks in a row, so make your challenges count." Harry finished and was pleased to see Ron nodding in agreement. Even with teaching the DA last year Harry wasn't comfortable speaking with people he didn't really know.

Ron finished talking to the girls and told them to stick around to help pick the rest of the team. After which he addressed the crowd again.

"Everyone applying for the beater positions please get ready." He then turned to talk to Harry again. "I need you to help with this one. You're the better flier and I need to watch." Harry nodded understanding what was coming.

"Ok, one person at a time with one bludger. Your goal is to make Harry either change course or knock him off his broom! You too will have five minutes each!" Harry smiled at the shocked faces when Ron had finished. He then mounted his brand new Firebolt SE and kicked off into the sky.

The wind blew Harry's air back; an emotion was welling up above his stomach. He felt giddy and excited as he went from the ground to one hundred feet above the stadium in seconds. He felt freedom as he turned precisely where he wanted and dropped back to the ground. This was Harry's specialty. The broom anticipated his every move perfectly. Before he could start flying off again he remembered what he was supposed to be doing and he slowed down and remained at a reasonable height.

Ron's shocked face broke into a smile as he went to a trunk and released a bludger. One of the candidates took flight also, bat in hand. Harry started flying familiar patterns around the field. He must have been up there about twenty minutes before he heard the telltale whoosh of a bludger coming towards him. He dodged and was getting back on track when the evil black ball was upon him again. For ten minutes Harry thought Dobby might have been trying to 'save' him again. The black ball seemed to follow him continuously. It felt very much like his second year all over again.

Then it stopped. After the ten minute onslaught the bludger came his way only a few more times. He wasn't too overworked, but was glad when Ron called him down again.

"Well that's an easy one," Ginny said as Harry landed.

"I don't know…" Ron mumbled lost in thought.

"You don't know _what_? The two best were easy to see!" Ginny said losing all patience with her brother.

"But he…"

"But – he – what?" Ginny asked enunciating every word with a kind of suppressed rage.

Ron looked at his sister with a confused expression. "He has Shanker's disease if you must know." He said shortly.

"Oh," a shocked look graced her face as her hand raised to her open mouth.

"Was he one of the ones making me fly for my life?" Harry broke in to the conversation.

"Yeah," Ron answered nodding.

"Then there is no reason to discriminate him for some disease that he has an instant cure for. Who was the other one?"

"His sister," Ron said, a red tinge creeping into his face.

"Well, no one else had me feeling any pressure…"

"And if it wasn't Harry," Ginny started regaining her composure, "and his new broom they would have had him on the ground in no time."

Ron threw up his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright, Sira and Jenks Haszel," he shouted to the crowd, "will you please join us?"

The two twins started making their way to the rest of the team as a groan escaped from those who were left. The gathered mass of people began making their way back to the castle; evidently no one was going for Keeper or Seeker.

"Well, if everything keeps going this well the cup will be ours again. Ok everyone, practice is every Friday evening, then Saturday, and Sunday. I've already booked both of those mornings."

As Harry was walking back to the castle he mentally checked his schedule so far. This year was by far his busiest to date, and he still had something else to add to it. He fished into his pocket for the Galleon he had made sure to grab this morning. Using his amp certainly had an advantage as he didn't have to remove the coin and use a wand to change the date. Later (for those who had kept their coins) the DA would meet again. After practice he had invited Sira and Jenks to join them if they wanted. Both agreed and Harry told them the time and place.

Lunch was again subdued for Harry. Luna was again not present and he was starting to worry. Ron brushed off his concerns in favor of food, while Hermione told him that Luna would come around. Ginny stayed strangely mute when he expressed his concern over his girlfriend. Neville shrugged, but Harry needed his core group for later, and for tomorrow. He needed to find her and fix whatever it was he had done wrong. With a goodbye, Harry waved to his friends and left the hall.

Harry wandered through the castle but it was just too big. Giving a sigh he rushed back up to Gryffindor Tower. Through the common room and up the spiral staircase to the top where the door was marked 'sixth years' he rushed to his trunk and flung it open.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Harry said as he tapped what looked like an old bit of parchment. After pleasant introductions from Harry's father and friends (he carefully avoided reading the name Padfoot) ink began to run in small lines from where his finger hit. After the floor plans were drawn Harry scanned every inch to only find that he couldn't find Luna. Panic nestled itself into the pit of Harry's stomach.

"Where _is_ she!" said panic rose from his stomach into his voice. And much to his surprise the map drew out one word.

'Who?'

"Luna Lovegood," Harry answered, still in shock over this new feature.

'The Founders' Chambers.'

Harry nodded more to himself than the map, tapped (which was more like a thump) the map and said, "Mischief Managed."

After a hurried run back down through the castle, through the hidden passage, and into the hidden room, Harry had finally found her…crying.

"What's wrong?" he asked, feeling even more clueless than ever before.

Luna abruptly stopped crying, she tried to smile but it was a very weak one, "Nothing Harry, nothing at all."

"How am I supposed to help if I don't know what's wrong?" Harry asked with an edge to his voice that he didn't intend.

"You don't have to help with everything," Luna whispered back.

Frowning Harry sat beside her. Her scooting slightly away didn't escape his attention. With a sigh he continued, "I want to help. And as this concerns you then it concerns us. So what is wrong?"

Luna sat so silently and still that Harry was losing hope of her answering him. But after an exaggeratedly long time of five minutes of silence she broke off her far off stare and glanced at him. Timidly she began,

"I know that I was never good enough for you, shh, let me finish," she interrupted Harry's interruption, "you have always been special. Where I was Loony Luna Lovegood, you were always the great noble Harry Potter…"

This time Harry did get to interrupt, "Don't forget the Dark Heir of Slytherin, or the mentally unbalanced prat, or the attention seeking liar…"

Luna broke back in, "Or the Boy-Who-Lived, or the guy who beat the Dark Lord five times so far, or the leader of the D.A…."

"By the way there's a meeting tonight."

"I know, I felt the coin," Luna grinned but her saddened demeanor was back in a flash, "Don't get off subject."

"Fine, Luna Lovegood, rider of thestrals, fighter of Death Eaters…"

"Don't joke."

"I'm not!" Harry said shortly, "You are so much more than I could ever want…"

"But wouldn't you rather try to patch things up with Cho?"

"No, we never got along very well."

Luna's eyes glinted in the torch light, "You know, that Sira girl is rather attractive…"

Then something in Harry's brain clicked, "Yes she is." Luna's face fell but Harry continued on, "But you are beautiful. She couldn't hold a candle to you."

Luna smiled at Harry's response. Her eyes locked with his saw the truth and warmth in every syllable spoken by the young man. She leaned in for a kiss.

Harry was happy that everything finally seemed to be going his way again.

After spending the afternoon with Luna it was almost time for the D.A. meeting. Harry paced before the spot of wall concentrating on what he needed. On the third pass a door that had not been there materialized. Swinging it open he smiled at the familiar room. The shelves lined with dark detectors, the cushy chairs lying about, Harry hadn't realized how much he had missed this room.

The core group was already present; Harry began to explain to the other five what the first meeting was going to be about.

"I'm taking a page out of Mad-Eye's book. Neville, I want your wand trained at the door, stupefy everyone you can."

Neville grinned and nodded at his instructions, he then left to get into position.

"Ginny, I want you to help Neville from the other side of the room, since the door swings in just worry about anyone who makes it into the room."

She too grinned as she left to get into her position.

"Luna, I want you to bind and move everyone who is hit with a stunner. Ron, and Hermione, I want you two sitting bound directly in front of the door."

Ron protested and Hermione didn't look at all pleased. Harry convinced them none the less.

"I'll be standing over you, that way at least no miss aimed spells will hit you. Is everyone ready?" Harry asked the room in general, after everyone nodded Harry waved his hand and four of the six people's clothes were transfigured to look like Death Eater robes and masks.

It wasn't five minutes later when Ernie Macmillan was the first to enter. His eyes widened as he saw Ron and Hermione struggling against magical ropes. He fumbled for his wand when a jet of red light hit his chest. Luna levitated him to the corner of the room. This happened often. Most of the time Neville got them right off the bat, some would roll or get up a shield in time to fight back only to get hit by Ginny. Harry did note that a few that were there last year weren't there this year. Along with the graduates, Cho Chang, Marietta Edgecombe, and Zacharias Smith were nowhere to be found. The ones who put up the most fight were Sira, Jenks, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, and Terry Boot.

Harry waited five minutes for the missing three, when the door stayed closed he unbound Ron and Hermione, made everyone's clothes normal again, and started to enervate his fallen friends. Some smiled at the test they had just received, some looked hurt at being attacked, but most were confused.

"Sorry about the little test," Harry announced to the room. "But I needed to see how ready you all were." Most of the people nodded their heads in understanding. Michael Corner looked a little miffed about the test he had failed. He hadn't even reached for his wand as he saw a supposed Death Eater levitating the body of a schoolmate.

For the meeting Harry had the teens refreshing on everything they had begun last year. When it was getting close to curfew Harry called them to a halt with a whistle the room had provided.

"That's great guys. Before you leave I have something to give you." From his bag he pulled out several large manila envelopes. "The D.A. is being upgraded. The information and your password are in these." He started to pass out the envelopes (which were getting many odd glances from the wizards) to each person there. Each had their names on them. "The first meeting of the S.O.U.L. is tomorrow evening. I'll see you there if you want to attend."

After heading back to the Gryffindor common room Harry asked Hermione for a little help.

"Tomorrow before the meeting could you help me look up how to password a door?"

Hermione shook her head at Harry's lack of planning but agreed anyway. Harry was relieved. He headed up to his dormitory to shower and sleep. After a quick check on his mental shields he noticed Jenks sitting in one of the opened windows. A Marcol cigarette planted between his lips. Harry resolved himself to find out more about this disease for himself. He already had one close call being overloaded with magic. If he didn't have it yet he wanted to know if he could get it. Jenks had thrown the finished cigarette out to the grounds then came in closing the window with his amp and climbed into bed. Harry pushed out the thoughts of coming down with some mysterious disease and finally slept.

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A/N: Much thanks to Lucy for britpicking/betaing this chapter!

SirusLivesOn: Well, here is more. Yes that little bit of info had been brewing in my mind, I liked how I intro'd it. I'm trying to keep on track with updates, hopefully for now on )

thekecmaster: Thanks for that piece of info. I write like its for film, so jump cuts tend to happen, but I fully see your point. As for Luna, well, she's just getting started I think.

Dianne, ch 3,4,&5: Thanks for the 'polished' compliments. I'm always afraid its jerky, repetitive or dull. As for the serious injuries, poor Neville will have his work cut out for him. Harry's wand is currently in his trunk. He'll find out if it can be repaired (though it might be next year before he knows) but either way he'll keep it. As for the sex, it really wasn't going to happen like that. But let's face it, they're sixteen (and fifteen). At that age sex isn't really romantically led up two, it just happens. Nothing really special (at least from my accounts and my friends). Later it becomes special, but for a teen, its sadly not. But thanks so much for the reviews, I hope to hear from you again.

Zozia: Thank you so much for the review. I was really hard up on what to do for Draco, so the song was written. I'm glad you liked it.As for 'shite' it was part of the Brit slang, now though the slang will not be left to me )

fanastyfirl721: I'm glad Luna was finally up to par. I really am struggleing to keep up with that girl. Shankers will be explained tomorrow (Sunday in the fic) while at the library. And yes you are forgiven ;-) Knockturn still goes, but there are no more deadlines. So take the time you need.

Dragon: Thanks for the review. Shankers will be explained further in the next chapter.

PouringRainDrops: I'm glad you like the story, I'm sticking with it.

Talix, ch 7,8,9,10,12: It was abrupt, and like RL IMHO, and yes, it was Dual (two things) training. I know Harry has been rushed into this affection, but sixteen year old hormones can override mental issues (he'll actually be more likely to smother her now that he has it). Cliche, yes, Texan, oh my. The Duo are just going to be modeled after my friends, so here's hoping they work! Glad you liked the Occlumency lessons, as for Harry and his girl problems, I just think he's a moody kid. So as his mood shifts the way he acts around girls will shift. Yes, Luna was subdued when she was unnamed, a tragic mistake on my behalf. Thank you so much for calling me out on "nonplussed". I even looked it up! My poor brain still turned it around with that 'non' in the beginning. I'm glad you are enjoying and hope you continue to.

Sodapop: Thanks for the review and I'm glad you like the story. As for your name, I like it too.

Moonlight: Thanks for the review! I'm glad you like this story, I was having doubts about it for a while )

Ponyboy: I'm glad you and Zozia are enjoying, and I'll keep writing! Thanks for the review.


	14. A Very Long Week Part 7 Sunday

**Disclaimer: Not mine, and yeah, I'm wondering why I have to reiterate that. Anyway, disclaimer part 2: This is going up without the excellent help from my britbeta, I'll replace it when I get it back, but for now errors are probably abound.

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**Part Seven**

Sunday morning and Harry had another headache. He checked his shields to find his dual colored shield was only green again, and it was cracked, almost falling. A small gasp escaped from the boy, one shield was gone, his other almost failed, he needed to do something. He knew what he could try, but it scared him, what if he ended up back in the hospital wing?

Harry cleared his thoughts, before anything he had to rebuild his green barrier. After that he mixed in the blue again. His double shield now back up Harry calmed his mind until the image of Hogwarts was before his mind's eye again. He started to drop things automatically; he was left with the black shadows from the forbidden forest. He merged this with his sea-green aqua to form a third barrier much murkier than before. The green, blue, and shadow swirled among each other constantly, the scene almost scared Harry, yet he was relaxed at the same time. He opened his eyes and began his day, his headache completely gone.

Hermione was already in the library with a stack of books piled beside her, her nose already buried in one, when Harry arrived. He sat with her and started to look through the book she had on the top of the pile.

"Actually Harry, I'll probably be able to find it quicker without your help, no offense," she said without looking up.

Harry grinned then asked, "Where could I find some info on magical diseases?"

"Aisle 15, row 1 through 10, section D."

Harry shook his head and left for his very clear destination. Once there he started to scan the books looking for a title that might grab him. Yet _That Burning Sensation in your Wand_ didn't sound right, nor did _The Mind of a Muggle and a Muggle of the Mind. So Now the Time Comes_ grabbed his interest until he opened it only to find many wizard pictures of witches giving birth. He quickly shut the book, the pictures were quit graphic and he felt a little ill, he couldn't fathom that people called _that_ a beautiful thing.

He finally grabbed a book called _1,000 Things you don't want and How to Avoid Them_. The index showed Shanker's disease on page 72, he tapped the words and the book flipped itself to page 72. Sometimes the magical world just worked better, sometimes not Harry thought disgruntled. He started to read the short passage while standing there.

**Shanker's Disease: The Curse of Magic**

_Shanker's disease, named after Sir William Shanker of Kent, or some other Brit city that fits better who was first to be diagnosed with this curious disease and who it was named after, is in its most base terms: too much magic for the body the handle. Some philosophers have said that the body is merely a vessel for the soul; some healers believe that Shanker's is a case where the soul is too powerful for the body. The soul is directly connected to a person's magic, or so they believe, and the magic is just too much for the body. The magic surges through their organs shutting them down. The blood slows and the infected find it hard to breathe._

_Over time the organs completely shut down, and as in Sir William's case, the body explodes. While for most witches and wizards this means death, it has been documented in America where this blast merely blew a hole in a boy's chest. His soul, and energy, was visible from then on, yet he continued to live without a heart or lungs. Yet his energy remained, further reinforcing the idea that the body is merely a vessel. He has to rely on Legilimency now to communicate with anyone anymore._

_Shanker's is not contagious in any way, and doesn't seem to be hereditary. Sometimes it just appears or sometimes it comes sporadically. The recent discovery of Tramic Root sap, or the dragon's saliva, and its both positive and negative effects, has helped the people who carry the disease. Marcol cigarettes expel the extra magic trapped within the body without the infected having to resort to casting overly powerful spells. For more information on this disease, please contact The Shanker's Association._

"Ok Harry, I think I have it," Hermione said as Harry replaced the book.

He smiled at his friend and with a grin asked, "So are you ready to try it out?"

"So where is this room anyway Harry?" Hermione asked as the set off downwards from the library.

"In the exact center of Hogwarts, well, as best as I can tell," he answered.

"And why haven't I ever heard of it?" she asked sounding a little hurt.

"I didn't know about it until this summer when I saw it on the map. It's called the 'Founder's Chambers'. Other than that, I've only been there a few times."

Harry saw a light brighten in his friend's brown eyes. The Founder's Chambers in the middle of the school was probably a very big deal in her mind. Harry slightly worried what she was going to say on his suggestion to start changing things up.

"Here, through this hidden passage," he said motioning to her outside the Great Hall. "Now it's kind of weird. First, the entrance shows up on the map, but not people inside the room. Also, the entrance is a mirror, can you password that?"

"Shouldn't be too much of a problem," she replied, her mind set on getting to this new room.

"All right…oh, here we are."

Hermione gazed into the mirror that hid the room. "So do you just walk through?"

"Yeah, the mirror kind of just pools around you as you go through."

Hermione nodded and she walked through. Harry just waited for her. He knew he could go through too, but he'd just get in her way.

After five minutes though Harry was losing patience, he walked through the glass. Halfway through something very solid crashed into his head. He stumbled backwards and finally landed on his backside. A few seconds later Hermione's bushy head came through the glass.

"Sorry bout that, ready for your password?"

"Yeah, you looked at it last night?"

Hermione nodded then asked, "Is it the same for everyone?"

"Yes, I did the separate folders for a couple of different reasons. Also, can you make sure that each person has to say the password to get in?"

"Shouldn't be too much of a problem," she replied, "let me get to work."

Hermione pulled out her wand and ran the tip around the oval of the glass. As she did this she was muttering "_Signum nisi verbum Voldemort audio_".

The glass rippled as her wand would pass by. Then on the third revolution the silver pool shimmered gold before returning to its natural state.

"That should do it, give it a go Harry," she said looking apprehensive yet assured.

Harry slowly tried to pass into the chambers but the glass was not budging. He step back and said, "Voldemort," and then tried again. This time he made it to his destination. He let out a "woot" at his friend's brilliance as she too entered the room. Then he noticed the time, cursed, and set off at a hurried pace.

"Quidditch practice, see you at lunch!" and he was gone.

The highlight of Quidditch practice for most of the team was Ron scolding Harry. He had been teased mercilessly by Ginny, Jenks, and Sira for this but it didn't really bother him. Even if he was going to have to get used to hearing orders from Ron, Harry believed it was best for the team.

Lunch seemed to bring back a sense of normality that Harry had missed when Luna was mad at him. She was back at the Gryffindor table today; the core of S.O.U.L. surrounded him. This just felt right.

A special lunch edition of The Daily Prophet darkened Harry's mood. A new minister had been elected. Harry had hoped for Mr. Weasley to run and win, but the head of the Weasley clan wasn't smiling at him. Neither was it someone from the Order, nor was it someone that Harry knew to be sympathetic to their cause. In fact, Harry had never seen this wizard before. The headline told him that his name was William Mallum, but that didn't interest Harry. Harry also wasn't interested in the promises the man had made at his induction ceremony. No, something else caught his attention, he needed to make sure first, his team was needed to help confirm this before he ran off to tell Dumbledore…

It wasn't long after lunch when the core group was waiting in the Founder's Chambers. They were only going to give the D.A. members thirty minutes to get in to this room. After that they would have to wait until Harry decided to open up recruitments again to try and join. Harry was pleasantly surprised when all showed up with twenty minutes to spare. Sure, some looked shaken at having to say the Dark Lord's fake name, but it was a start.

"I'm glad you all could make it," Harry started with a genuine smile, "and I hope you all read your packets, since it had all the introductory information that you needed."

The amassed kids stayed silent but most nodded their heads. Harry continued.

"Ok, then we'll just jump into new business. Does anyone know who our new minister is?" the question was greeted in silence. Harry nodded and pulled out a copy of the Daily Prophet. He drew a square over the minister's picture with his finger and muttered a spell. The picture was enlarged and projected onto the nearest wall.

"Ok, I think I saw something earlier, but I need to know for sure. Will everyone please watch the man's left forearm."

To Harry's slight astonishment, they did. All of them. After a few minutes the man in question brushed back his full brown hair and his robe sleeve slipped down a bit. A few people gasped and Harry froze the picture.

"Harry, is that what I think it is?" Hermione asked from her spot in a yellow recliner.

"I think so…" a few faces turned to the two of them with questioning eyes. Harry continued, "I believe we have a Death Eater running the Wizarding world…"

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Sodapop, review one and two: Thanks for the comps and this won't become an orphan I don't think. But it was your second review that finally got me moving again. As for your name, yeah I like it. Better than the boring, and you could be named Seven... I'm 24 and still writing. My original was taking most my time though (if anyone wants to check it out it is linked in my profile). And congrats on being the 50th reviewer. I'll think of a prize at a later date!

Zozia review one and two,and Ponyboy via Zozia: I'm glad you caught that little Harry moment. Thanks for the comps and let Ponyboy know I hope to see him back (that is if his comp is still out). And thanks for kicking me back into gear, I'll keep writing and fighting the urge to be one of those once a month updates guys. Hopefully I'll be back to once a week starting now.

crzyangelchic: thanks for the comps ) . Yup, first fic but not the last, this is actually more fun than I thought it would be.

Kirk: I'm glad you're liking this, and I'll keep writing whenever I get the chance.

fanastygirl721: Shanker's and SOUL covered, though it's a little shorter than I wanted, oh well. And no worries with Knockturn, I didn't even get to finish the third one yet. And I'm glad you're liking this and I hope you continue to do so.

Ugly Duckling: Sorry, but what's curious? And sorry bout the delay in updating, I'm hoping to get back on track soon.

bookworm321: Thanks for the comps, I'm glad you're liking this )


	15. A Weekend Away

Disclaimer: In the books, not mine, not in the books, all mine.

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Chapter 9: A Weekend Away

First Hogsmeade weekend was upon the castle of students. Harry feared that either he would have to stay in the castle for his safety, or that he'd have to stay since Sirius was dead and the form might become void because of that. Loss lumped into his throat as guilt burned in his stomach for even thinking about his godfather's death in such a trivial manner.

Guilt not withstanding, Harry was allowed to go to the wizard town on the first weekend. He was looking forward to this more than ever considering his more strenuous workload this year. He and Luna had made their plans for the weekend next. They decided to meet in the entrance hall and then go to the town. The morning would be theirs and then they were to meet up with their friends for lunch.

One night after a humorous lesson in Stealth and Intrusion, where Moody became so aggravated with Tonks' clumsiness that he tied her to a chair, Ron approached Harry in the dorm.

"Hey mate, can I ask you something?" Ron asked.

"Sure, what is it?"

But instead of talking Ron led Harry to a more private section of the room.

"I…um…well, I was thinking about asking Hermione to go to Hogsmeade with me," he said very fast.

Harry had wondered when Ron would come around, but he fought his grin from forming on his face. Instead he decided to have a little fun, "OK, but doesn't she always come with us to Hogsmeade?"

Ron's cheeks went slightly pink and said, "Well, I was thinking about, you know, asking her there…_privately_."

"You mean you don't want me hanging around…" then Harry put a shocked look on his face, "you! You want to go _out_ with her?"

"NO!" Ron shouted defensively, and then continued in a lower tone, "Well…yeah. I've liked her since last year. You don't mind do you?"

At that question Harry lost it and laughed.

"You don't have to laugh at me you know," Ron said, his pink cheeks vanishing to be replaced by reddening ears.

Harry reigned in his laughter and said, "No, I'm not laughing at you. No, really," he said taking in Ron's doubtful face, "I think you two would be great together."

Ron finally broke in to a smile.

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Hogsmeade was three days away and Ron had been looking paler and paler each day since his conversation with Harry. Whenever he was around Hermione he would start fidgeting with whatever was available to him. During lunch on Wednesday when he fidgeted with his goblet once too many times and spilled his pumpkin juice on Harry, Harry finally had to say something.

"Just ask her already."

"What if she says no?" Ron asked while his face turned very pale. "I don't know if I could take that kind of rejection."

"What if she says yes?" Harry retorted. "You want to go out with her yet you expect it to just magically happen. Like you'll wake up tomorrow and somehow she'll just know you two will be going to Hogsmeade _together_.

"Look, I know you're right ok? Bugger this," he finished and left the table. Harry couldn't tell if he was finally going to get the nerve to ask, or if he was going to give up. He was hoping for the former.

Thursday after a grueling wandless magic training lesson, where Ron had lost some of his control and instead of transfiguring the desk he disintegrated it, Harry decided to prod his friend a little.

"Ask her now, hang back a little, and just ask."

Ron seemed to lose his voice as he opened his mouth and slightly croaked. He quickly shut his mouth again and then grimly nodded. Harry was able to get Ginny and Neville away by discussing some SOUL details with them. Harry had wanted everyone on the lookout at Hogsmeade this weekend, just in case.

"Here," he told his two friends handing them a mirror each. "These are two-way mirrors. Hermione has dealt with the communication problem. The way they work is: you just look in the mirror and say the name of who you want to call." Harry then pulled out his own mirror and said, "Ginny and Neville," and the mirrors in Ginny's and Neville's hand warmed slightly and the mirror vibrated.

"To answer the call, say your name and then the word 'here'."

"Ginny here."

"Neville here."

The mirrors in the other two SOUL members' hands faded from their own reflections to Harry's face. They both broke out in smiles.

"To end the call one person says their name and the word 'out'," Harry finished explaining. He then said, "Harry out," and his face vanished from Neville's and Ginny's mirrors.

"This is brilliant," Ginny smiled even wider. Harry could almost see the possibilities dancing in her eyes.

At curfew Harry was starting to worry. Ron had not been back to Gryffindor tower since he left him with Hermione. He thought that maybe he had prefect duties or rounds or something. He finally gave in to curiosity and retrieved his mirror.

"Ron," he said looking at himself in the mirror. He waited and waited. Harry noticed dully that his scar wasn't as prominent on his forehead has it had been last year. "Ron," he said into his mirror again, but only his face remained looking back at himself.

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An uneasy feeling wormed its way into the pit of Harry's stomach. He got out of bed and retrieved the Marauder's Map from his trunk. After activating the parchment he started scanning the map for his friend's name. He found it after a couple minutes of scanning. Ron was in the kitchen alone. With a frown Harry cleared the map and tucked it into his pocket. He then wrapped himself in his father's invisibility cloak and left the boy's dormitory.

He made his way to the kitchens. He narrowly missed Mrs. Norris once. Harry still suspected that the cat could either see, smell, or hear him so he quickened his pace. If Mrs. Norris suspected a student out after curfew then Filch would show up soon. The caretaker Filch and his cat seemed to have some unholy mental connection so whenever the cat saw trouble Filch wasn't too far behind.

Harry made it to the kitchens without further incident. He tickled the pear and walked in. Once inside he removed the cloak and started looking around for Ron. Ron was sitting at a counter. On the other side of the counter was Dobby, and the house elf was keeping Ron company and handing out butterbeers to the prefect. Harry glanced and saw that Ron had already made his way through many.

"What's up Ron?" Harry asked sitting beside his friend.

"Bloody hell Harry, she said no. No, she didn't only say no. She said someone else had already asked her."

"Who?" Harry asked. She hadn't let him on this little detail either.

"That's what I asked. But she wouldn't say, said I'd laugh. So I said, 'oh great, bloody fourth year all over again. Who is it this time? A bloody Slytherin?'"

"You didn't…"

"Yes, I did! You know, if she thinks I'm going to laugh at her about these things why does she go out with these types of people."

"Krum wasn't that bad…"

"He was from _Durmstrang_ Harry," Ron said, making Durmstrang sound like something vile and disgusting.

"Ron, you really need to get over putting everything in these broad categories. So what, Krum was from Durmstrang, he was still an ok bloke."

"Oh what? Are you going to start spouting off this house unity garbage too?" Ron asked with a hint of a threat in his voice. "Gonna start being all chummy with the Slytherins?"

"You know what Ron, maybe I will. Tell Scabbers hello when you see him at the Gryffindor House Reunion."

With that Harry left his friend to stew by himself. He knew if he stayed it would all just tailspin out of control and he'd say something else to regret. Before he knew it he was already back in bed reinforcing his Occlumency shields before he drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

* * *

On Friday Harry called the S.O.U.L. together for a meeting before everyone was off to Hogsmeade. He needed to make sure everyone was on guard and that everyone had their mirrors. That taken care of he breathed slightly easier. He wasn't sure why but everyone's safety was his top priority at the moment.

At dinner Ron sat wearily beside Harry.

"Look mate, I'm sorry I blew up at you last night. I was just in a bad mood since…you know."

"Yeah, don't worry about it. I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have brought up the rat…"

"No, what you said makes sense. Maybe all this house pride stuff is garbage. Look at the first years," he said nodding his head to the fifth smaller table. "They all get along, but if they had been sorted into the houses they would have ended up hating each other."

Harry smiled. It seemed that his friend was finally wising up.

* * *

On Saturday morning Harry met Luna at the entrance of the castle. Students lined up and milled around so that conversation was near to impossible with all the voices floating and bouncing around the stone walls. Slowly they all made their way through the doors. Filch watched, nodded, and checked names on his parchment as students passed. Harry breathed a sigh of relief as Filch merely nodded to him as he walked by. Luna's hand intertwined with his as they set off to the town of Hogsmeade. Through idle chat about classes and Quidditch, Harry tried to keep a lookout for his friends. Specifically, Hermione and who she was with. He could almost understand her keeping her date a secret from Ron, but he didn't know why she would with him. Thoughts of his friend's love life were driven out of his mind though once he was in the wizarding town. He and Luna visited various shops, stocked up on Honeyduke's finest, and in general had a very pleasant morning. Harry was amazed at the quickness of time when he was with Luna. He grinned remembering the time he spent with Cho at Madame Puddifoot's. Every minute seemed to be agonizingly slow with the awkwardness of every little thing he had done.

At noon he and Luna made their way to the Three Broomsticks. He noticed various SOUL members coming and going. None of them were by themselves, and each seemed to be watchful and alert. This gave Harry a chance to smile slightly, Luna noticing this smiled as well, squeezing his hand in hers. In the very packed pub, Harry noticed Ron sitting at a table by himself. Zigging and zagging the couple made their way to their very disgruntled looking friend.

"Bloody Neville!" Ron burst out before Harry even sat down.

"What?" he asked in confusion.

"Neville, Neville's the one who asked her. And she accepted!"

"Oh," was all Harry managed to reply with.

"Why would a pity date make me laugh at her?" Ron asked, his hand rising above him in a grand gesture.

Luna replied, "Maybe it's not a pity date. Maybe she's interested."

Ron laughed and in his chuckles said, "Yeah, and maybe his toad has magical properties."

Luna looked at Ron in an almost pitying way before going back to looking over the menu.

* * *

The afternoon was spent with Harry and Luna listening to Ron rant on about Hermione. At first it was mildly amusing to here Ron's viewpoints on how someone so smart could act so dumb. But as he continued, it just became tiresome. The three ended up walking back to Hogwarts sooner than needed. Hogsmeade was a wonderful place, but the novelty of it was running thin the more they went. Once back to the school they all ate dinner with Sira and Jenks, who were not allowed to go to the town this weekend. Harry didn't bother to ask why. Neville and Hermione sat a few feet away and talked quietly amongst themselves. Ron, scowling at the two of them, left without dessert. This distressed Harry, more than any ranting could have done. After a lengthy kiss goodnight from Luna in a broom closet, Harry made his way to Gryffindor Tower. Ron, was no where to be found in the common room, so Harry decided to try the dormitory. Ron's bed was surrounded in the drapes.

"Ron?" Harry asked, but heard no reply.

Deciding it was best to leave his friend alone for the time; Harry changed and lay in his bed, being sure to check his Occlumency shields. It had been a good day, and reflecting on it made him smile. Neville came into the dorm with a similar grin. Harry was torn, knowing his best mate was sulking brought him down a little, but if someone else needed something to make him smile, it was Neville. Secretly, Harry felt that Hermione had done the right thing by taking pity on their friend.

* * *

A/N1: Anyone keeping tabs knows I suck. I'm sorry for the delay, and I know most of you are probably gone by now. A great culmination of events happened, and well, there you go. Anyone interested can find a better version of the first few chapters at Thanks for the comp, I'm hoping to get back on track.

Sodapop: Sorry bout that cliffy. This story will not be abandoned.

Aquafairy: Yeah, this is my first. It's being revised for WT though. It's much better. Wow, thank you for the huge compliment in the 2nd review :)

Anonymous: Ok, I can't defend the choice of Snape, other than Harry needs to know, and Snape can teach him.

alen: lol, it is like the graphics card. nope not H/Hr. New students are trying to avoid the ovious and the cliches. Thanks, I like Luna as a main player, damned HBP. Harry hasn't learned his full political power yet.

fanastygirl721: Still writing, and thanks. My laptop died with all my info, so yeah. Sucks. No worries on Knockturn, I still haven't written the next story for it.

Sodapop: lol, well, it is hard to see it as beautiful. The event sure, the proces... Shanker's was fun to come up with, and the person without heart or lungs is not Jenks. Actually a nod to a different fandom all together. 50 points to anyone who guesses it. Death Eater Minister, too good to pass up, and Fudge is too big a joke to just make him one. Still writing, hopefully on a better schedule.

Manatheron: Thanks for the comps, sorry bout the delay.

Treck: Thanks.

worthlesspoet: Vile, I'll take that. The upload issue is a looong story.

Ponyboy: I'm continueing, no abandonment.

Zozia: I'm glad you enjoi. No abandonment, I promise. Though hate me cos surely you've forgoten what's happened so far.

Dallas: Thanks for the tip. I am continueing, just a really rough patch for me + fanfiction for a while.

Moonlight: Sorry to lose you. There was just some bad times. I'm back and hopefully on schedule here on out.

Slayerstoryguy: Thanks.

the-gothic-furby: thanks, no abandoment here.

Moonlight333: I'm glad you liked the story. And thought I didn't explain this, I think once the core is broke, the wand is useless.

A/N2: Anyone still around? Thanks for the reads and the reviews. I'm so sorry about the delay, and promise to try and be a better FF writer from here on out. Lates.


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